For Thou Art With Me
by allisonfreedman
Summary: Eric and Faith have been reunited but the circumstances are less than ideal. Trust is not easily healed and time is not on their side. Both have much to learn and much to teach - the question is whether they will. The final installment of Even Though I Walk Through the Darkest Valley.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Oh hi! So good to see you! If you're here from my other works I'm so happy you've followed me over here! It means so much to me. If however you have clicked on this story and are wondering what I'm talking about...you have some catching up to do if you'd like to read this. (This can be a positive or a negative so take that as you will.) If you're new here, this is the third installment of a really long story that I started WAAY too long ago but am having too much fun with to give up on. So, if you do head back to the beginning I will caution you that IT GETS BETTER and please just slog through my rough first few chapters (or perhaps first book, idk...I like to think I write better now than I did like five years ago. Shocking I know.) Anyways, all that to say, maybe don't start here. Or do. I don't run your life. Your call. Okay, sorry, my author notes, if any, are usually not this long. Onward with the story!

*** ... ... ... ... ... ... ***

FTAWM Chapter 1

Eric POV

They arrived in a disconcerting silence, both the children's faces stained with tears, Marissa and Maxwell's careworn and tired, while Faith's face remained empty and hopeless, but all of them exhausted. Faith and the children sat opposite me yet refused to meet my eyes as we took off, sitting awkwardly in the stale silence that Marissa and Maxwell tried to fill with stilted conversation. As soon as we reached a cruising altitude, Marissa and Maxwell moved up to the front section of seats, giving the rest of us some privacy, but Faith stood and addressed the children before I could attempt any sort of conversation.

"You two are free to do as you like, however I will be in the back getting some sleep. You can stay here and socialize or explore – or you can join me. But I do want to actually sleep, so you will have to as well," she said wearily.

"Yes, Mommy," they responded. She kissed their foreheads and glanced at me with something like resignation before walking to the back and closing the door to the bedroom.

I watched her leave, torn between following her and staying behind to have some time with my children. That still felt so foreign – _my_ children. Was this her roundabout way of giving her blessing? Was she just that exhausted? How much had she told the children on the way over? Why had Marissa and Maxwell abandoned me? The silence stretched like a canyon between the me and the children the space between us feeling more like miles that mere feet.

"So what exactly is your plan here?" Ellie suddenly spoke up, her tone laced with accusation.

I was taken aback as I met both of their distrustful gazes. "My plan? I've been reunited with your mother, that's the entirety of the plan."

"But you make Mom sad. You hurt her. She wants nothing to do with you and neither do we," Solomon chimed in.

I sighed, "Of that I'm well aware. I like to hope that can change in the future, especially once you are made aware of the situation."

He merely scowled, "If you mean that fact that you're our father we don't care."

"So she has told you," I said with a little surprise.

"She didn't have to, we're not stupid," he retorted.

"No, you most certainly are not," I said more to myself than them, "What do you know of your mother and I's history?"

"Lots," Solomon said under his breath, angrily looking away, but seeming somewhat shaken. What had Faith told them? What did they know?

"Care to share?"

"No."

A prolonged silence fell before Solomon, still looking a little pale, got up and went to the bedroom without another word. Well that had gone well. I'd have to ask Faith more about the children, they were obviously very different. Ellie seemed in no hurry to leave yet. I decided to try again with her.

"Your mother failed to mention your full name to me," I said, "Could you tell me?"

"My name's Eleanor."

So not Elizabeth after all. I couldn't decide how I felt about that.

"Eleanor, I'm aware how messy this situation is and that your mother is very unhappy with it currently. But I want to promise you, as I will her, that I will never again intentionally cause her pain. I also know that you and Solomon have very poor opinions of me and that the position of father has been filled in your lives thus far. Though I wish to have a relationship with both of you beyond that of just your biological father, I'm not trying to replace Simon."

She cocked her head, "I know _you_ at least believe what you said," she stated in a way that hinted at some wisdom beyond her years. It was gone as soon as it had come as she frowned slightly. I wondered if there was something to it. I'd have to ask Faith about that as well, if they had any emerging abilities. They were certainly the right age.

"Solomon's not going to like it, but I will trust you – a little. Pinkie swear that you mean it," she continued, insistently sticking out one hand, pinkie extended.

I was a bit surprised at the gesture, though I thankfully recognized it, but I smiled as I leaned forward and wrapped my pinkie around her. "Pinkie swear, Eleanor. I meant what I said with all my heart." I sat back feeling a bit of weight off my shoulders. It was a start.

Faith POV

I woke up to Ellie shaking me awake none too gently. "Wake up, mommy, we gotta go."

I groggily sat up, momentarily disoriented by my surroundings before it all came crashing back. Eric. I was on the plane. We were heading back to my prison. I looked over and noticed Solomon was gone, though I vaguely remembered him coming in.

"I'll be right out, Ellie, okay?" I said quietly. She nodded and scampered out. I fell back biting my lip hard as a wave of tears almost overtook me. I pushed it back down, opting for emptiness rather than the whirlwind of emotions that I continued to stomp down. I wasn't going to be able to hold it in much longer, but I was determined not to break down in front of the twins. I had always tried to shield them from any episodes I had through the years, and this would be no different.

I slowly rose from the bed, absent-mindedly combing my fingers through my hair and slipping into my shoes before taking a cleansing breath and walking to join Eric and the twins on the tarmac.

We rode in silence, though it was a longer ride than the one to the airport. It was midday since we'd taken off in the evening and the children seemed much too interested in the scenery, which was very pretty, to be feeling any effects of jetlag. I noticed Ellie's willingness to sit nearer to Eric and found myself somehow both startled yet unsurprised. What did it mean? I'd have to talk to them both soon, God knows they had some insight I could use, and I had plenty to warn them about. I glanced at Solomon next to me, his arms wrapped around mine. Ellie, well, she knew quite a bit, but poor Solomon. I'd inadvertently scarred him before, thus I was trying my hardest to keep myself empty of trauma for the sake of his need to cling to me for comfort. It had started as a small sacrifice, but if we didn't get to the mansion soon I would break down.

As we piled out of the car and walked through the doors I had spent so long trying to escape I felt the terror well up inside of me and struggled to stay impassive. While Max and Marissa scattered to take care of other things, or maybe to just escape the overwhelming awkwardness, Eric led us up to a familiar hall.

"You both have rooms right here," he said pointing to two doors. "They're connected through the bathroom. Your mother will be right across the hall here," he continued, pointing to a very familiar door: my first room. It was too much.

"Why don't you two go take a look at your rooms and settle in," I said quietly, staring down Eric but addressing the twins.

"But, Mommy, you're-" Ellie protested.

"I'm fine. Ellie, Solomon, go on," I cut her off patiently, looking meaningfully at both of them.

As they slowly trailed over to the door and begrudgingly entered their rooms, I tiredly looked over at Eric and opened the door to the room he was calling mine. He seemed perplexed but entered and I quickly followed, silently closing the door behind.

"They're just going to sit on the other side of their door and listen, though they'll probably sneak out soon to listen at this door," I explained. I looked around and found the room exactly as I remembered…from the first time at least, not the last time that I'd seen it.

"Is the room satisfactory? And will the children be alright? I have no idea if they're used to their own rooms, but I also didn't want them to feel separated," Eric asked.

"They'll be fine," I stated not bothering to turn around. I would not be.

He sighed, "Speak, Faith. I know you have plenty to say with the children no longer at your side."

I was silent.

"You could start by cursing me, maybe call me some unsavory terms. You could always go for your usual cutting remarks that still catch me off-guard," he said, trying to elicit a response.

I walked around the room silently and opened the wardrobe seeing it stocked with my old clothes forcing a harsh laugh out of my throat. He was committed to this ruse.

"Faith, please, say something."

I finally complied. "Why the pretense?"

He was confused; he was supposed to be. He shouldn't be though. "Pretense?" he asked.

Eric POV

"Why bother with setting up the room when we both know exactly where I'm going to end up. The twins aren't going to fall for it and I'm definitely not either. Is this going to be another three months in sort of deal? Should I mark it down?" she asked rhetorically. Though the words were angry and sarcastic her tone was anything but. It was empty and tired – it was somehow worse.

"No," I said, "No, there's no pretense in this. I promised you, I have no desire to force you into anything again."

"A promise you made in the midst of molesting me," she pointed out quietly, sitting down heavily on the bed.

I grimaced at the truth in her statement, "That was a last resort. We already hashed that out. I thought we had an understanding."

She didn't respond, but fiddled with her necklace, sliding it along its chain back and forth; so close and yet so far away.

I walked forward and knelt before her in my desperation to meet her gaze. "Faith Elaine Allison, I promise that I will do everything in my power to never cause you harm again. Please, hear me out."

She remained unresponsive but was transparent in the obvious control she was exerting over her breathing, trying to keep it deliberate and slow. "What," she finally said.

I hesitated, rethinking my words, she was not in the right state for this, "It's been a stressful day, love, maybe we should discuss this-"

"It's been a very stressful day and if you don't spit it out soon I'm going to go into hysterics," she interrupted tersely, the first bit of emotion coming back into her tone, "And I'd rather you not be present for that part of my day."

I carefully sat down next to her, very aware of the heat threatening me from her cross. Otherwise, there was no hint of her power gathering. She was disconcertingly calm in every way. I started cautiously, "A mated pair turns to a bonded union after three bonds are established. The three pieces of the overall bond are each important and once put together are unbreakable and irrevocable. The third piece of this bond however is one that is at times delayed due to its effect on the human mate." I looked over at her as I paused, "As you've probably pieced together by now, I held off on this bond."

"What bond. What more do you need from me, Eric," she said, not meeting my gaze as a pained expression flitting across her features.

The mere phrasing was a blow, but I tried to push past it, knowing this was the easy part of this conversation, I decided to continue my thread rather than answer her question immediately. I was going to keep the web of revelations it would entail to a minimum for Faith's sake. She was clutching her last strings of control.

"The third piece of a full bond is the life bond which, as it implies, binds together the two lives of the mates. It's a simple but powerful bond, requiring only an exchange of blood that ties the human's life to that of an immortal, fully unlocks any potential power the human houses, and paves the way to the status of a fledgling."

"The blood is the life, and it shall be mine," Faith quoted distantly.

I nodded, "Though in contrast to the story, it does not turn the mate, it instead almost pauses them. The moment the bond is completed is the oldest you will ever be. If the immortal were to die, the mortal's life would resume from when they were bonded regardless of the elapsed time."

"And if the mortal were to die?" she said lightly, but in a way that chilled me to the bone.

"The immortal has been known to wrestle with insanity and insatiability with the killing of a fully bonded mate," I said briefly, still knowing the effects much too personally.

She slumped slightly but turned toward me with resignation, "So you need blood. Fine, take it and be done with me," she said reaching for her necklace.

"Faith, no, it's not that simple," I said quickly holding out my hand to stop her.

"Yes, it is that simple. I'm done fighting pointlessly for things you have an eternity to take from me. You're two thirds of the way there, just do it."

"It's not – we aren't –" I grasped desperately at the words I had to say.

"Or don't. Fine. Leave me on the vine longer to mature, if that's what you think will happen. That is why held off in the first place I assume."

"Yes, but that's not –"

"Then what is it?"

"Faith we're no longer bonded," I finally said.


	2. Chapter 2

FTAWM Chapter 2

Solomon POV

They were too far away but I tried anyways. I listened, willing my ears to pick up their conversation.

"Ollie, it's not going to work," Ellie repeated for the third time.

"Shhhh," I retorted. I was still mad at her for talking to Eric. He'd hurt Mom. I didn't care who he was, he deserved nothing.

"We can go in the hall. I think they went into Mom's room," I said, suddenly very afraid. "We gotta go help her."

"Mom's fine," Ellie said, sitting on the bed, seemingly unconcerned.

"Don't you get it? He might hurt her again!" I said angrily.

"No, he won't."

"Yeah, sure." I didn't believe her.

"Ollie, you know I'm never wrong. I told you I saw it."  
"Yeah, but he's like us, if anyone knows how to trick you it'd be him."

Ellie shrugged, "I'm not saying he's perfect. I'm saying he's not awful. There's a difference."

"You didn't see it, Elle, you don't understand," I said quietly.

"Leave them for now. He's not hurting her."

"Fine," I sulked, sitting next to her. "I still hate him."

Faith POV

"What?" I asked, completely baffled by Eric's statement. "No, that's insane of course we are. You and I talked on multiple occasions."

"And do you recall what that last occasion was?" he asked patiently.

Of course I did. As if I could forget the night he'd gone radio silent. I shook my head, it wasn't true, I had proof. "No, you're wrong, I used our bond to incapacitate Caleb."

He sighed heavily, "No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did, Eric, how else do you explain what happened?!" I yelled, reaching my breaking point.

"You drew from your own power, Faith," he said calmly, "You've done it before."

I shook my head vehemently, "No, no I didn't, you didn't see how it happened, you don't understand, I'll – I'll show you if I have to," I said reaching for my necklace clasp again, feeling myself starting to unravel.

"Faith," he said gently, surprisingly shaking his head at my offer. "You destroyed our bond the night you went to bed with Simon almost four and a half years ago. You have a power unto yourself and you were distraught enough with Caleb's appearance that you accessed that power, not mine, and destroyed his mind."

"I what?" I said completely blindsided a second time by Eric's final statement.

He seemed to suddenly realize what he'd said and quickly tried to backpedal, "You were unstable, and you don't know how to channel your own power, especially if you don't know it's yours –"

"I…destroyed him?" I asked in horror, not even wanting a reply.

"Love, you couldn't have – you didn't know what you were doing, and it just reacted badly," he tried to comfort but it was empty.

"That's why you were so upset about him when you came in," I said, ignoring his pleas, completely wrapped up in my own discoveries. "Oh, God, what have I done," I said, looking down at my hands in fear, tears beginning to leak out of my eyes.

"Faith, this isn't your fault, you didn't mean –"

"Please, leave," I pleaded quietly.

"Faith –"

"_Please_. I'm done. I can't do this right now," I whispered, biting down the sobs threatening to erupt from me.

"You're not at fault, it was a mistake."

"You tell me one of the most traumatic moments of my life was for nothing and then inform me I practically killed a man and I'm _not_ supposed to react this way?" I asked harshly. "Please, just go," I pleaded with a sob. I was a lost cause at this point, it was all going to come out.

I held it together as silence fell for a few moments before he nodded, stood, and left without another word. I buried my face in one of the pillows and was immediately overtaken with sobs. I cried for the fact I would never see Simon again, I cried because I wouldn't see Grams, I wouldn't see Chloe and Kyle or Kate and Grant. I cried because I would never see the bookstore again where I'd apparently practically murdered Caleb which made me cry all the more. I cried for Caleb's loss and my own stupidity in bringing it about. I cried at the fact the twins were being pulled into the mess of a relationship I had with Eric. I cried that I even had a relationship with him at all. My head began to pound but still I cried, unable to stop one thing from snowballing into the next. I cried because the twins would forget Simon. I cried because Eric and I had to start over. I cried out of fear for what that would mean no matter what he said to the contrary. I cried because my carefully crafted life had been pulled apart. I cried because everything was so damn hard when it came to anything related to Eric. But most of all, I cried because this was the life I was consigned to – a life devoid of love and wholly without hope.

Marissa POV

Almost a week passed without Faith leaving her room. I had brought her some food a few times but only enough to get her by in the hopes that her hunger might drive her out of her solitude. Not even the children dared interrupt her seclusion seeming very aware of all she was going through. They had settled in fairly well and entertained themselves by running through the house to explore and had even found some books in the library they enjoyed. They avoided Eric but were friendly enough toward Max and I if they happened across us and had even learned and taught us a few card games at one point. However, Faith's reclusiveness hung in the air unresolved, not a single party willing to push her, not the children, not Max and I, not even Eric seemed particularly intent on coaxing Faith back to her normal self.

"You need to talk to her," I prompted at our group meeting. "She's still in the dark about all of this."

"She needs her time, Marissa, I'm going to give it to her. She's selflessly sacrificed everything for years, the least I can do is let her selfishly have a few weeks," he responded tiredly, stopping his pacing to sit on one of the couches. "As long as the nobles stay silent, we run our schedule by her timing."

"Eric, you know we've only bought a little time with them. A couple months at best. The news of your bride is going to leak out, especially when she has two children from a previously unknown first attempt. The story's much too good. Rumor will spread, and quickly," I said, unhappy that I had to be the realist.

"I'm keeping them appeased for now, but soon we'll be unable to rely on loyalty alone to keep them silent, and I'm guessing you don't want to make examples out of any of them should it get out," Max piped up.

"No, of course not. They did, and have done, more than I expected," Eric said. He stood and began to pace again but stopped shortly after. "I'll give her the full week, and if nothing has changed I will intervene. Alright?"

I nodded, somewhat unconvincingly. It wasn't alright but we both knew that, there was no point in arguing.

Eric POV

_It's been seven days since Faith has hidden herself away in her rooms. The children have gotten along fine; they seem to implicitly understand she's not in a state to be disturbed. It was too much for her at once. The transition and the beginning of all her revelations in one day, it would be enough to drive anyone toward insanity, it was definitely where she was heading last I saw her. I don't know what to do for her. There's so much left to reveal and another senseless, impending timeline. She's so fragile right now. I'm determined to bring her a book tomorrow. She's either mind-numbingly bored and secluding herself on principle or -maybe worse - is too sucked into her own thoughts and misery. Either way she needs distraction._

I put down the pen, leaving the journal open on the desk to prevent the ink from smudging. I stood and began browsing the library trying to consider what kind of book would pull her out of this. When I could think of nothing I left to search out Marissa, maybe she would have some insight.

Faith POV

I needed a distraction. I was tired of the thought spirals I'd been stuck in and rabbit holes I'd been going down. I had so many questions that had arisen from my last interaction with Eric. He'd said I'd used my power before, but when? What did this power mean? What did this broken bond mean? Would it have to be established in the same way as the first time? What did this life mean for Ellie and Solomon? He'd mentioned something about an heir in the bookstore, what did that mean? I stopped myself with a deep, cleansing breath. I struggled but finally managed to sit up and then stand without getting woozy and thus threw on a sweater over my tee shirt and running shorts that I'd slept in for the past however many days, hastily pulled my hair up and headed slowly to the library.

... ... ... ... ...

A/N: Debt paid for disappearing for 8 months? Hope you guys are ready for ANGST. Lol, thanks for reading. See you next update.


	3. Chapter 3

FTAWM Chapter 3

Faith POV

I didn't actively avoid anyone on my slow trek to the library, but I didn't encounter anyone and was actually somewhat relieved to find the library empty as well. I made my way over to my usual section of classics, the memory of the library's layout coming back to me with no effort. I had no clue what to read, but browsed titles, many I'd read before and if I hadn't read it I'd heard of it.

I ruled out familiar ones, they would be too easy to gloss over and get distracted in the middle of. I needed something new. A title continued to jump out at me that I hadn't read but vaguely recognized: _Tess of the d'Urbervilles_. I took the book down and found it had no jacket or inside label – no summary then. I shrugged and decided to give it a go, wandering toward the sitting area of the library as I paged to the table of contents, almost running into the chair of the desk in the corner which was pulled out - something that had never been the case last time. I closed the book and pushed in the chair, my eyes naturally led to the book on the desk. It was handwritten.

My interest piqued, I put down my book and picked the other up carefully, reading the page it was opened to.

_It's been seven days since Faith has hidden herself away in her rooms. The children have gotten along fine; they seem to implicitly understand she's not in a state to be disturbed. It was too much for her at once. The transition and the beginning of all her revelations in one day, it would be enough to drive anyone toward insanity, it was definitely where she was heading last I saw her. I don't know what to do for her._

I stopped short; this was Eric's. He was journaling about this mess of a relationship? Was there more about me? Did this mean he'd written about everything? I abandoned the current page immediately, flipping back to land on a random page to see where it took me.

_She's pregnant. I can't believe it took me this long to put together the signs. This is not what I'd hoped for. Not to say that I don't want her to bear children but the circumstances…they're so unfortunate. Alone back in mortal society and pregnant with a dhamphir; gods how am I going to convince her that she needs my help in this? She's going to be stubborn about this, she always is. I have to hope though – Faith's bound to slip up somewhere; I just can't allow her to follow in her predecessor's footsteps. She wouldn't though, she's stronger than Mina was, if she has any sense of self-preservation she'll listen to reason. I'll have to tell her that I've figured out her secret; it's amazing she was able to keep it from me this long._

I debated turning the page and finding out Eric's thoughts on my nightmare involving the baby that had followed this. It was interesting to find it had been true he'd figured it out beforehand. I decided against it and instead continued flipping back to the first page.

_From the moment I found Faith I knew she was going to give me trouble, though I vastly underestimated just how much. That was my first mistake. Though I quickly found out she was a shared mate, making her more powerful, and after a tumultuous half year discovered she is likely even more, namely a millennial mate, what I have come to realize as I look back now is it is not this power she has most at her disposal. Faith's power, at this point, is much simpler than I would have guessed; it lies completely in expectations and that she adheres to none of them. In every moment, I have made judgments as to what she can handle, what she can accomplish, or what she will do, and she has destroyed each and every one of them leaving me constantly surprised._

_Underestimating Faith is the thing I find myself continually paying the price for and is a mistake I hope to not make again, though I am surely bound to do so. It has resulted in broken communication, an incomplete bond, and unspeakable pain for both my bride and myself. As I write this, I have no idea where she is and haven't for some time now. She does not want to be found, but find her I must, for her well-being and my own._

_This, of course, is only my preface for the events that are to follow, how I have wronged my love and how underestimating her has plagued our relationship, for it is my duty to record what has passed between us, one that I have put off until this moment. I hope to discover some clarity by recording these things as I hope to impart some as well to those who will succeed me. And I hope, no, I almost pray that after I've recorded what has passed there will be much to record in the future, when we are reunited, that will not be full of brokenness and pain. For now, here is our history, as lived and remembered by me, Eric Sebastian Krev._

"You're up," I heard from the library door.

I practically threw the journal back on the desk but smoothly picked up _Tess_ as I turned around, flushed with the fear that I'd been caught red-handed.

He walked closer, seeming cautious in his approach, glancing at the book in my hands. "I hope you aren't revisiting that book to cast me as Alec."

I frowned, caught off-guard and slightly confused, "Um, I-I haven't read it before. It just caught my eye." I couldn't stop the lines I'd just read from continuing to run through my head. _Though I quickly found out she was a shared mate, making her more powerful, and after a tumultuous half year discovered she is likely even more, namely a millennial mate-_ What did it mean? What was I missing in all of this?

He still seemed to sense something was off as he finished closing the distance between me and the door, standing a few paces back. "Ah. In that case, might I suggest something lighter?"

I glanced unconsciously at the journal beside me and it was enough to betray me. I saw Eric follow my gaze and quickly put the pieces together. He walked forward to pick up the book and glanced at my guilty expression as he stepped back a pace, his gaze betraying nothing.

"I wasn't gone very long so you can't have read much. What did you read?"

"Only a couple pages," my feet feeling glued to the floor, the urge to run and the urge to erupt in anger battling so closely I could act on neither.

He seemed to see my struggle and his look softened slightly, "With what I've already told you and what you read I'm sure you have plenty of questions."

I could do nothing but nod ever-so-slightly, still feeling as though Eric would fly into a rage any second.

"If you are feeling up to it I can start to answer some of them," he offered, gesturing at the two chairs nearest to us. "Just let me put this away," he said, walking over to a bookcase and taking a ring from his pocket. Pushing it into a knot in the wood of one of the bookcases and then slipping it back into his pocket, a full shelf section swung out revealing another set of shelves behind them full of books. He quickly shelved his at the end of one row and hid the shelves away once more. He came back and found I was still standing frozen by the desk.

"Faith, do sit down, this is likely to take a while."

"What were all of those?" I blurted out.

He lifted an eyebrow in amusement and gestured again that I sit. I finally complied and felt a head-rush come over me as I did, though it passed quickly enough that it seemed to have gone unnoticed. I set the book on my lap. Eric took the seat perpendicular to mine. "They're records. All the Draculas before me, as far as we know, have kept a record in their dealings with their mortal brides."

"There were so many," I said.

"There's not half so many actually. Many of them are translations of the same thing. There are the original journals kept by the Dracula and the official statements kept by the Scribe. Many have been translated to accommodate a lingua franca of the time as well. Yours will likely be translated eventually along with Marissa's account."

"Marissa's what? What languages?"

"Marissa is my Scribe. She reports in her statement impartially for future generations; mine is allowed to be more personal. And each scribe record is in Romanian, French, and English at least. Every Dracula and any vampire in the community speaks Romanian as it is our ancestral language, however, many are starting to adopt learning the lingua franca as well which used to be French and is now English."

It was crazy I'd never pondered the fact that Eric was fluent in English, with little to no accent. And French and Romanian as well, I wondered how many languages he did know. "So, this is probably a stupid question but what is your first language?"

He smiled, "Romanian. It's not a stupid question, I'm very good at English," he said with a wink, I smiled slightly in response. "You'll have to start learning Romanian for your court debut, maybe some French as well, and so will the children," he continued.

"Je parle déjà français," I said.

"Eh bien, vous êstes plein de surprises," he said with a smile, "When did this happen? I didn't think you were learning a language when we met?"

"I'd taken some French up to that point and decided to minor in it with my degree," I said.

"Well that's actually quite a relief. We should still start you on Romanian lessons, you'll pick it up well if you already know French. The children's French lessons can wait though, they can get by with basic Romanian and English. Your French will be an advantage, but the children needn't learn it yet," he said.

"They know a few words because they'd help me study, but they're nowhere near fluent yet. They have scary-good memories though," I said. I was actually somewhat pleased with this prospect of language lessons. It would give me something to work on and devote myself to.

"I don't doubt it," he said with a prideful smile. It was a strange thing to see him taking pride in who I'd considered for so long to be _my_ children. It would definitely take getting used to. Also, had I just had a semi-pleasant conversation with Eric? I was sure that was about to change.

"So," I began tentatively, "what is all this about mates? You said…you wrote something about shared and millennial and power and such."

He sat back further in his chair, "Well, I guess you've started with something simple enough. Every vampire eventually finds a mortal mate, though a very few vampires opt to settle down amongst themselves. Each mortal usually is singularly tied – their aura is only sensed by their mate. Once they are bonded, their power is unlocked and, though usually nothing of consequence, could still be made use of by their mate if the mortals themselves are never taught to use or control it. It's usually not a problem or even a thought as it is never an inordinate amount of power, it is merely a normal byproduct of being mated."

"However," he continued, "there have been some recorded instances of mortals whose aura reaches out to more than one of my kind. They generally do house more power though, which makes them a valuable acquisition especially for those in higher levels of the court who may have to defend their titles forcefully. This is when a mortal's power becomes less trivial and when things can get ugly in the battle for the mortal's supposed affections."

"It becomes a race to bond first," I said in horrified realization.

"Yes, though the law states that the mortal is to be willing. However, that is rarely the case," he said quietly. He seemed to want to say more with his final comment but stopped himself. "I think I'd like you to read from the records," he said switching topics slightly, "they'll probably answer many of your questions, and if not, I will be able to fill you in." He stood and gestured for me to follow him. I was too engrossed in the conversation to remember my state or the book in my lap and stood much too fast, immediately feeling dizzy and blacking out as my knees buckled.

Eric POV

I almost didn't catch her as she fell, her head on a trajectory to hit the table in front of us. I grit my teeth as I quickly laid her back in her chair and pulled away in pain, the burns covering my forearms. They would take at least a week to heal completely.

She quickly came to and seemed confused to be laid back in the chair. "Merde, Faith, when was the last time you ate?" I asked in concern as I bent to pick up the book, setting it on the side table.

"I'm…I'm not sure," she said somewhat dazed, her voiced cleared though as she made the realization, "Oh my gosh, did you just catch me?" I again took hope in the fact there was concern in her voice.

"Of course, I did," I said. "Will you take that damn necklace off so I can help you?"

She shook her head quickly, "No, no, I'm fine, just give me a moment to get my bearings."

"Faith," I said kneeling down beside her chair, "I've allowed you to continue wearing your cross after proving to you it is merely a strong deterrent. Please, spare me the burns so I may get you back to your room without you passing out again."

She worried the pendant back and forth as she considered, before reaching to unclasp the necklace and placing it on top of the book, watching warily as if I might pounce. I offered my hand to her, which she tentatively took as I helped pull her up, feeling her stagger slightly and go almost completely limp as she nearly lost consciousness once more. I caught her again, though the pressure stung my previous burns. "How did you make it to the library?" I asked in true confusion.

"Very slowly," she responded, still leaning on me heavily. That did it. I carefully bent to gather her legs. She momentarily backed away, but I merely waited patiently until she relented and let me pick her up.

"Alright, let's get you a good meal," I said, starting back to her room. "You should also let Eleanor and Solomon know you're alive."

"I shouldn't have shut them out for so long," she said guiltily, unwilling to meet my eyes as I carried her.

"You're going through quite a bit if you haven't noticed. It was warranted," I tried to comfort her.

"And they aren't? I just abandoned them for a week. I'm a terrible mother," she said quietly.

"You must be delirious because you're speaking nonsense," I said. "They're fine. I believe they were exchanging card games with Marissa and Max the other day."

"Are you…are they making any progress?" She asked quietly.

I shook my head, but saw my opening for a question I'd been wanting to ask, "How much do they know, Faith? How much did you tell them?"

She sighed, "What they know and what I've told them are two different things really. To be honest, I don't know exactly what they've pieced together, but they have…encountered more than I wanted them to."

She was being truthful yet choosing her words very carefully. I knew what she was concealing though. "So they are showing abilities! I knew they must have some. They're likely related to a more mental side of things than physical knowing my own gifts and yours. What are they capable of? Do they have different abilities?" I asked, unable to hide my excitement and pride at both of my children showing and manipulating their abilities this young. I arrived at her room and deposited her on the bed as she responded.

"Eric, please, I…I feel like it should be their decisions to tell you," she said worriedly, her hand unconsciously reaching for her necklace, until she remembered its absence.

"I'd still like to know what I'm working with here, or rather against in this case," I said.

"That's your battle, not mine," she said with surprising determination. It figured; I don't know why I'd thought she'd be willing to help win over the children when she herself didn't trust me.

I nodded my acquiescence. "Of course. I'll be back with some food," I stated, leaving before she could say anything more.

I crossed the hall to knock on the door to one of the children's rooms, I hadn't figured out who had claimed which room as they were always together in one or the other. Solomon opened the door and frowned upon seeing me but said nothing.

"I thought I should inform you both that your mother has decided to rejoin us but will be in bed for a day or two. However, I'm sure that she would like to see you," I said kindly as I could. I saw Eleanor come up behind Solomon and smile through the cracked door, "We'll go over right now!"

I smiled at her enthusiasm, nodded, and then turned to leave.

When I arrived back with some soup, I found the children up on the bed speaking animatedly with Faith, though the conversation stopped upon my arrival.

I handed off the soup to Faith who thanked me quietly.

"Take your time catching up," I said gently. "Tomorrow, I will meet you all in here for your first language lesson as I don't think you should leave your bed until you've eaten some more, Faith. You two, fetch some more food if your mother wants anything else. I know you've explored the kitchen plenty judging by the missing chocolates," I said teasingly. Eleanor thankfully giggled and Faith even smiled slightly, mussing Solomon's hair and planting a quick kiss on his forehead. "Goodnight," I said before leaving.

A number of hours later, I remembered I was going to leave a book on the Dracula records out for Faith to start on. I grabbed it, and quietly made my way down the hall thinking I would slip in and out of Faith's room without disturbing her. I opened the door soundlessly and walked to place the book on her nightstand and found the three of them curled up together, sleeping soundly. I smiled sadly at their closeness, wondering if I'd ever be able to attain a similar level. "Someday," I whispered to myself as I left, "Someday we will be a family."

Solomon POV

I snuggled closer to Mom and tried to go to sleep again. It was much more comfortable to be near her now than it had been in the car. I'd been about to fall asleep when I'd noticed the faint light in the room. The door was open. I stayed down, pretending to sleep until I could decide what to do. It had to be him. Was he here to hurt Mom? I was glad Ellie and I had stayed, he couldn't get to Mom with us here. I waited but he did nothing. "Someday," I heard him whisper. He got further away but I still heard his words, "Someday we will be a family."

The light went away as the door closed and I turned over. The anger that overcame me was instant - I didn't want Eric. Simon had completed our family – Eric never would.

I pulled up the sheets and sulked. I tried not to think about how Eric was treating us nicely or how sad he'd just sounded when he thought none of us would hear him. Instead, I remembered what I'd seen and heard, remembering mom's crying and screaming. I moved in closer to her. Unless mom forgave him, I never would – and that was never going to happen.


	4. Chapter 4

FTAWM Chapter 4

Eric POV

I decided to show up at Faith's door at a reasonable enough time that the three of them would all be awake and long enough that the children could give the impression they had come over just that morning, which they pulled off surprisingly well. I knocked and was granted entry by Eleanor.

"Good morning, Eleanor," I said, "Are you three ready for your first lesson in Romanian?"

"Yes!" she said excitedly, opening the door further to let me past, I smiled at her enthusiasm but noted it was not reflected by the other two present in the room. Solomon's general disposition was still protective and hostile while Faith's merely seemed guarded yet curious. I was to proceed with caution.

"I figured this was as good a location as any to start our lessons. Instead of diving into things like tenses and conjugations and whatnot, I find it's best to have a 'grab-bag', if you will, of base words. Words you will use in everyday life. For today, try to stick to more physical entities. You can point out anything in this room you think will be useful, I will tell you the word in Romanian and write it out on this note which we can then stick to the object. You will repeat it looking at the word, and then once saying the English equivalent. For example," I said searching, "You could ask the word for door, I will tell you it is 'poartă'," I quickly wrote it out on a note, "You repeat it," I said gesturing, they surprisingly all complied, "and then will say 'door – poartă', and the next person will take their turn," I said, sticking the note to the door. "I'll test you at the end of our lesson and the beginning of the next to see what you remember. Sound tolerable?" I asked at the end of my explanation, looking more pointedly at Faith.

She smiled ever-so-slightly, "It's better than what I'd expected that's for sure."

I decided not to ask after what she had expected. Instead, I turned to Solomon, "Why don't you start?" I offered, any excuse to connect with him.

He still seemed less than enthused by the lesson prospect but complied, pointing to the bedside lamp. I smiled, "An easy start. Lampă," I said, writing it out and sticking it to the lampshade. The three of them dutifully repeated it, "Eleanor? Your turn," I prompted.

She pointed to the book on the bedside table, which I was thankful for because it would draw Faith's attention to the record that I wanted her to start on without my having to mention it.

We continued, getting through another two rounds before landing on Eleanor again, who had a difficult job as we were running out of useful objects to label in the bedroom. Suddenly though, she smiled and pointed at Faith. Faith looked taken aback for a moment and I couldn't help but laugh, surprised at Eleanor's twist on our game; Faith _was_ in the room. "A smart choice," I complimented, I carefully wrote out "maică" deciding to stick to only what the children would need to call her. I smiled and, feeling a bit playful, walked over, brushing Faith's bangs to the side before sticking the note to her forehead. She started slightly, my guess being she'd forgotten I could touch her, but before she could react any further Eleanor burst into peals of laughter and even Solomon began to giggle. She directed her attention to them and smiled at their enjoyment, a redirect I didn't miss. I figured then she would shut down the momentary fun, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a gleam in her eye as she turned back to me, "What's the term for these 'coquins'?" she said looking at each of them with a glare that was immediately undermined by a smile, making them laugh even more.

I grinned myself, thankful for lightened atmosphere, "Well that depends now. There's many useful words to learn related to you two," I said, directing my comment to the twins. "'Gemenii' is 'twins'," I said writing out the term and placing it between them, "'Copii' is 'children'," I said repeating the action. "But, Eleanor, you are also 'fiică' or 'daughter' as well as 'soră', to Solomon," I said sticking both terms to Eleanor's forehead. "And you, Solomon, are 'fiu', 'son', and 'frate' or 'brother' as well," I finished, doing the same to him, and being rewarded with what was almost a smile at me. We reviewed all the words introduced and I collected the notes, figuring I could test them asking them to attach each one to the correct object or person next time, for now I was happy to have made it through our first lesson.

"Might I have a moment alone with your mother?" I asked the twins. I felt the atmosphere of the room change immediately. What had been more relaxed and open suddenly became tight and distrustful, I wasn't bonded with any of them, but I could feel the uncertainty and even potential fear coming from Faith, and it dawned on me why. I was asking for time alone with Faith who was currently without her safeguard and in a bed. It was not the most innocent set up which I quickly amended. "We can move to the study or downstairs for a meal perhaps?" I said, trying to sway her and, to a lesser extent, the children. She nodded carefully, "On peut parler dans la bibliothèque," she responded, clearly wanting to reclaim her cross as soon as possible. I was momentarily confused why she'd responded in French but then realized she wanted to keep the children from searching us out. I gave in, I couldn't keep her from her necklace if I wanted to gain her trust. "Oui bien sûr."

"Your father and I have some things to discuss further," she said, switching languages and turning to the children, "I'm sorry, but I promise we will all have dinner together later if you can entertain yourselves until then?"

"Where will you be?" Solomon immediately asked.

"In the house, nowhere you need to worry about."

"Mom-"

"Ollie," she said gently yet sternly, "This is not for you."

"But it's _him_, and he-"

"I can handle myself and I can handle him. Now you and your sister go explore some more," she prompted.

Solomon cast a glare at me as he joined his sister, but the two of them complied and left us alone once more.

"He's very protective of you," I said with grudging admiration.

"Yes," she said softly, "I'd rather he wasn't…it's unfair that he feels so compelled-" she stopped short of telling me something revealing, "I'd rather he wasn't," she reiterated.

"It's still an admirable quality. He's quite a leader."

"You only say that because he's your heir," she said with a bit of derision, "He's the younger of the two of them though."

I, however, was startled by her casual use of such a term, "Why do you know that he's my heir?"

"You said so yourself in the bookstore, and now you just confirmed it." Ah, there was that steel trap of a memory that I remembered. "So, what does that entail for him?" she asked cagily, still very guarded, obviously finding the entire idea highly unpleasant.

"Nothing right now, both he and Eleanor should be legitimized when we finally host the court. I will start exercising and practicing their powers with them if they allow me, we'll start them on language and history lessons. I don't want to bring them up any differently."

She began to laugh mockingly, sliding out of the bed to stand, "There are so many things in that I don't even want to begin unpacking. If you think I'm going to hand over the reins for how my children are being raised you're sadly mistaken."

"Faith, they aren't _your_ children," I said a bit harder than intended.

"If you think they're yours in any measure other than biology you're more delusional than I thought."

"I'm under no delusions, but they are _our_ children and you should start accepting that."

"They are _my_ children, Eric, or did you not see how quickly they come to _my_ defense against you?"

Faith POV

It was low tactic that was for certain, but I was justified. He'd backed me into this corner of a relationship, I was allowed to use whatever tools I could to even the playing field. I saw that I had indeed metaphorically struck between his ribs and turned to walk away when he grabbed my wrist to stay me, about to say something. However, he regretted his move when my training kicked in and my body responded on autopilot. I broke his grasp with a step forward and wound my arm back to swing out and connect with his jaw before he could finish the second syllable.

I realized what I'd done seconds after it happened. I backed away, cradling my arm to my chest in semi-horror, having never truly followed through the oft-practiced move and amazed yet terrified that I had actually done it. How many times had I visualized that exact hit? But I realized what I'd failed to imagine was what would happen immediately following it. I turned to run to the library but waited too long, Eric had recovered from the blow quickly and moved to block the door.

"That was new trick," he said, blocking my exit, hand massaging his jaw where I could already see a bruise forming, bringing us to a strange standoff.

"Move, Eric, I'm going to the library."

"Yes, I'm aware, that's why I'm standing where I am. Merde, Faith, can't we just have a conversation with those claws of yours sheathed?"

"Maybe if we go where we agreed to have a conversation, I wouldn't be so on-edge," I bit back.

"Maybe you could just take me at my word for once and believe that I'm not going to hurt you!"

"And you truly expect me to just take you at your word?"

"Faith-" he started.

"How am I supposed to trust anything you say? Especially when I realize that I'm back at frickin square one with you in our stupid bond that – I don't even know how it works! I didn't even know anything about it when I had it and I couldn't even tell when it disappeared! And I know nothing! Is it going to be established in the same way again? Do I have to lie back and take this again because I won't, Eric, I swear to God I won't let you hurt me like that again, I'm not strong enough-" I said breaking down into sobs as I stood in front of him, feeling weak and vulnerable and altogether the opposite of how I wanted to look right now.

Eric, to his credit, looked stricken. He carefully stepped forward, his hands up in a plea for me to not hit him, though it felt like the last thing I would be able to do at that moment, and gently guided me back to sit on the bed taking a seat beside me.

He said nothing but merely sat, not touching me, and let me cry. As I was finally able to swallow my sobs it began to grate on me that he didn't even bother defending himself anymore. If even he believed his stance hopeless why was he putting me through this? He finally stood and turned to face me, leaning over to grab the book on my bedside table and placing it in my lap before turning away to leave. "It won't excuse anything, but it will help you understand."

I sat for a while after he left, dumbfounded that he'd so effectively cut off another potential fight and given me space to privately deal with things. I wondered at his insistence to read about the records but decided I might as well indulge him. I had nothing better to do. I turned to sit against the headboard and opened to find a table of contents. The book was laid out like a history textbook, with a chapter dedicated to each set of names along with the page number each started at. I took note that Eric had given me a supposedly impartial report on the records and not the records themselves itself and secretly wondered what I would find in the Dracula's personal records. That was a question for later though. I decided I might as well start with the first names.

_Hadrion and Isabelle_ the chapter title read for this pair. There seemed to be subsections that then went in depth about different steps in their history. Headers were labelled "Meeting", "Taking", "Bonding", "Breeding", "Interim", and "Death". There was a final portion at the end of the chapter labelled "Summary" which I flipped to. I wanted immediate answers. The "too long; didn't read" version I figured.

_The Record of Hadrion and Isabelle: Summary_

_Hadrion caught Isabelle's scent early on. It was nearby and strong and within a few months of searching he encountered her in a small village. She was a young and pretty thing, newly thirteen with raven hair and tanned skin from working outside, as she was the daughter of a farmer with no wealth to her name. Hadrion approached her father quickly and asked for her, promising she'd be provided for beyond what could be offered her on their farm. Isabelle's father, however, loved her dearly as his only daughter and was loathe to send her away, especially so young and asked to give the girl time. This was not received well by the Dracula. She already was rightfully his and belonged to him - asking was a mere formality._

_This led to an ordered massacre of Isabelle's family and the small village nearby. Nosferatu were invited to take and do whatever they wished and due to the village's near isolation, news would not spread of its demise for some time. Only Isabelle was kept alive, whisked away by the Dracula to serve as his bride until his eternity was taken._

_She was frightened and compliant, not wishing to incur the same wrath on herself, but she would only lie with him through Persuasion, and once her mind was her own again she would weep inconsolably. Often, Hadrion would forego Persuading her altogether until she began to submit herself willingly. Ultimately, all protest left her for good._

I stopped in absolute horror at everything I'd just read. She was thirteen for god's sake. Thirteen. I'd only had a few years on her with Eric but still, the difference made me shudder. And Hadrion…I couldn't believe his cruelty. Massacring the village, raping Isabelle repeatedly and claiming it as his right. I shuddered again. Eric at least had pretended contrition, though at times it seemed quite real. I frowned at that unwelcome thought but decided to continue reading the overview.

_However, when Hadrion finally began using her for her true purpose she would not take._

"Her true purpose my foot," I muttered, finally understanding the author's meaning after a couple rereads. At this point, I was dying for Isabelle. In only a few paragraphs I felt my heart cry for her, yet I raged against her internally as well. Why wouldn't she do anything? Why was she so compliant? I wondered if Hadrion's raping her repeatedly and her still not becoming pregnant had given her some sort of private victory. At what cost though?

_It took over a year, but Isabelle finally became pregnant, leading to her reprieve of Hadrion as he feared endangering a possible heir. She was locked into her room and kept under careful watch at all times to make sure she carried the dhamphir to term. Six months later, she birthed an heir, Lucan._

_Isabelle raised Lucan and loved him as her son, but she was only granted so much time with him as Hadrion feared he would go soft under Isabelle's care. She was removed from Lucan's life around his fifth birthday, but refused to go quietly and stood up to Hadrion who quickly made an example of her to Lucan. Isabelle committed suicide days later, throwing herself from the roof._

I gasped, no wonder Eric had been so uptight about and scared by my visits to the roof. I was torn, on one hand I wanted to throw the book as far from me as I could and never hear the name Hadrion again, yet another part of me wanted to delve in further and read the other parts of the record to see if there was anything else Isabelle had done to fight. I hated her. I felt for her, but I hated her. But most of all, I was terrified by the easy dismissal of Isabelle from her own son's life – terrified by what it could bode for my own future.

I didn't bother reading the preceding chapter, but quickly began paging through to the next names: _Lucan and Calia._

... ... ... ...

A/N: Two more chapters down! Happy belated halloween btw. Faith's doing a lot of catch up and the things she's going to learn...hooo boy, stay tuned is all I'll say. Thanks for reading (and reviewing!) it's what keeps me writing :)


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: HI wow it's been forever. I've been writing ahead for a while but there's been things I need to make sure fit correctly and stay consistent and etc etc I'll stop with the excuses. Warning for some sexual content...Eric really wants to get under Faith's skin (whether he's successful you'll have to read to see). I'll hopefully be posting the next chapter within the week and it's a doozy. It's all a doozy. Lots of explanations and reveals. Okay, this note's getting long. Thanks for reading. Happy 2020 everyone :)

...

FTAWM Chapter 5

Eric POV

I'd left her to her own devices again. I could only hope she would pursue the path I'd set her on. She could read all she liked, at this point it didn't matter what she did and didn't know. I'd tell her whatever she wanted to know, consequences be damned.

I rubbed my jaw, a consequence I hadn't seen coming. She'd been training. She must have been so stunned and off-balance when we'd started that even her training had abandoned her. I could tell it wouldn't happen again; now she was re-centered. It'd been an impressive reaction if I was being honest, it took a lot to land a hit on me, especially one that hard. Granted, she'd had an element of surprise that would be lost now, but the way she'd so smoothly carried it out spoke volumes of the extent she'd trained to defend herself. It disheartened me that I had impacted her in such a way and made her so afraid, but on the other hand I couldn't help but find her all the more arousing. I looked at the scabs up my forearms from the burns. So much power. So much trouble. I shook away the thought and ignored my throbbing jaw.

Would she ever have me though, even if she knew all? That was the question that truly kept me up. For so long I'd justified that if she knew things would be different, but what if, when she did, it didn't change a thing?

Faith POV

_The Record of Lucan and Calia: Summary_

_As Lucan took up the mantle of Dracula after his father took his eternity, he also began his search for a bride, knowing it would help secure his status and make him all the more powerful. He'd been Dracula a mere two centuries when he caught scent of his mate during his travels to his outer councils. He finally stumbling upon the girl in a wealthy family in India. Calia was tall, dark, and altogether lovely; she'd reached her fourteenth birthday and was therefore ready to be married. She was, however, already promised to another rich family's heir and her father wouldn't capitulate to Lucan's request for her hand and dowry._

_I stopped momentarily hoping by some miracle that what I was about to read might not have actually happened – I knew I was wrong._

_Lucan was enraged, but bided his time waiting for the eve of the wedding before sneaking into Calia's rooms and taking her as his own, making her unfit for any union._

I sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of my nose. I was sensing a pattern that I could see Eric had fallen right in step with. I continued on.

_Lucan, taking a page out of his father's book, took revenge on Calia's entire family and the family of her betrothed, feasting upon and killing each one of them with the help of a few subordinates._

_Calia was heavily Persuaded in her first few nights with the Dracula but he eventually took to his father's ways as well, foregoing the effort of Persuasion. She became pregnant half a year in, and soon produced a healthy baby girl whom she named Lydia._

_Unhappy with this result, Lucan left Calia to her own devices for almost a year before trying again to procure an heir. Another year in and she became pregnant once more with another girl, Julia. Lucan left her to raise the two girls for many years, disgusted with her and with his own inability to produce an heir._

_After a few years, Lucan reappeared and took up with Calia again, trying to no avail to force an heir out of her. However, one night he killed Calia in a fit of rage, leaving him with the two girls Lydia and Julia, who were seven and five respectively._

I stopped again, fuming at this stupid book. I couldn't believe Eric thought this would help me understand. Oh, I understood alright. I understood that he was following in the footsteps of his predecessors, but there was no way in hell I was going to roll over and accept it like _my_ predecessors seemed to. Not bothering to finish the summary, I set down the record and finally walked over to reclaim my necklace. Clasping it around my neck where it belonged, I left the book and marched out. It was time to regroup with the children, but after they were in bed I was going to have words with Eric. So many words.

Ellie POV

Dinner was quiet. Max and Marissa had left to hunt a few hours ago so there was no chatter to fill the silence. Ollie and I sat on either side of mom, who was at the head of the table, while Eric sat a few seats away on my side, removed from us but still present. I was trying to make sense of the two of them. Mommy was angry at Eric, though that wasn't surprising, but she was also sad, and she couldn't seem to stop glancing at Solomon. Eric on the other hand, was mostly tired. They had just come out of a talk I knew, but by the way mom was acting, I knew the real talk would begin after dinner.

"I see you reclaimed your necklace," Eric said, breaking the silence.

"Did you expect me to forget," Mom replied, deadpan.

"Of course not."

"I read parts of that record you left too," Mom continued, stirring her soup not looking up.

"And how did you find it?" Eric asked.

"You were right – it did help me understand. I understand that you were following with tradition. I understand that you're all monsters. I understand that you think I'm yours by right or fate or whatever. And believe me, I understand that I may be fighting a pointless battle in the face of eternity, but I want you to understand something too. You'd better understand that I'm not MY predecessors and I will NEVER stop fighting you if you intend to follow this path." She finished her voice escalating as she stared Eric down.

Solomon and I shrank down in our chairs listening intently. We exchanged a glance, apparently, this wasn't going to wait until we were out of sight. We were finally going to get a peek.

Eric was surprisingly calm, but I could tell he was hurt. "What did you read, Faith?"

"The fact you don't know by what I've told you so far doesn't bode well for the rest to come," she bit back. "If you can't differentiate them by what I've said there's no point in my reading them."

"You obviously read Hadrion's record and likely Lucan's to follow up, though I'm quite sure you did not read either in its entirety." He was getting annoyed.

"Why does it matter?" she said standing, "I didn't need to read anything more after they both killed their brides. Is that to be my end as well?"

"Faith-" Eric tried to interrupt but mom pressed on.

"I suppose so; I mean you already have your heir, so you don't need to force anymore out of me, so I guess that just leaves cutting me off from my children, so you can indoctrinate them to become monsters just like you."

"Faith!" Eric tried again.

"Don't worry I can find my own way to the roof, it will be poetic! Maybe you can even Persuade Solomon to push me!" she finished with an empty, unhinged laugh. Mom was falling apart.

"THAT'S ENOUGH, FAITH." Eric snapped, "La naiba, the children are right here!" he said. Uh oh. He hadn't lost track of us. Mom obviously had though, as she turned to look at us, guilty, worried, and upset.

"I-I-," she stammered.

"You two, go get ready for bed," Eric said firmly. When we stayed frozen in our seats, he repeated the order calmly. I turned to convince Solomon we should listen but was surprised to find him already getting up to obey.

"And I will come check on you two shortly, so please don't stay and eavesdrop," he added as we left. However, I heard another set of feet dart the other direction entirely as we left, and I knew mom had made her escape.

We changed into our PJs and brushed our teeth without a word to each other, too stunned at what had occurred downstairs. We wandered over to Solomon's room and sat on the bed holding our pillows, still not talking but not wanting to be apart. There was a knock at the door and Eric came in. "I seem to have guess right as to which room you two would be in. I confess I don't know which rooms you've assigned yourselves."

"This is my room," Solomon said after a pause.

Eric smiled, "Well, there's one mystery solved. Are you two all set?"

We nodded.

"Do you need anything else before bed?"

We shook our heads.

Eric nodded and turned to leave.

"What did Mommy mean?" Solomon asked quietly. "Are you going to kill her?"

I heard Eric let out a small sigh before turning back around. "No, Solomon, I would rather die myself than kill your mother."

"Then why does she think you're going to make me push her off the roof? I won't do it! I won't!" Solomon continued, beginning to cry.

Eric came and knelt in front of the bed, gently shushing him and wiping away the tears rolling down his cheeks. "Shh, no, of course you won't. You never will, Solomon. Shhh. Your mother is just…she's very stressed. She's saying a lot of things she doesn't mean," he said tiredly.

"Then stop making her stressed," I said, feeling I had to challenge him since Solomon was too upset.

Eric looked at me sadly, "I'm trying, Eleanor. It is not my goal to make your mother's life difficult."

We sat for a while, Eric and I comforting Solomon until he stopped crying. Eric finally stood, "I'd like to see you two in my study tomorrow. We should start working on your powers and how you can control them." At the surprised looks on our faces he grinned, "Yes, I know. However, it is up to you two how much you'd like to share with me concerning the extent of your abilities. For now, get some sleep."

"Is mom going to be okay?" Solomon asked, sniffling.

"Maybe not tonight. But she will be, don't worry." Solomon looked away. "Goodnight, you two," Eric said closing the door.

"Goodnight," we responded. I moved over and hugged Solomon tightly.

Eric POV

I closed the door quietly, feeling a strange swell of emotions. Empathy for the two of them having received the cutting side of Faith's tongue for once, something I was very familiar with, happiness that I been given some opportunity to comfort them, protectiveness in that I hated to see my children afraid, and most of all weariness at the whirlwind of a night – and it still wasn't over. I sighed and walked away wondering where I would find Faith. I didn't have to wonder for more than a second as I saw her round the corner obviously on her way to the room I'd just left.

"Leave them be, Faith," I said brusquely. "You've done enough for one night."

"No," she said, tears in her eyes, "I have to make things right with them."  
"Faith, they're tired, leave it until morning."

"Are they okay?" she sniffled.

I debated, not wanting to seem smug but also not wanting to lie to her. "You made Solomon cry," I finally said.

"Oh god," she said burying her face in her hands.

"He's fine now, Faith, I've reassured him he won't be pushing you off any buildings. Though why you felt the need to create that image I have no idea."

"I didn't…I didn't think," she said guiltily.

"No, you never do, do you?" I said rhetorically. "Come on, it's time we had it out," I said, turning and walking down the hall. She followed meekly until we reached the destination of our room which she immediately refused to enter when I opened the door for her.

"For the love of- it's only a room." I said impatiently.

"You'll twist it into me accepting an invitation to your bed or something else! We're going to the library!"

"I'll do no such thing and, no, we are not because the library is right below the twin's rooms. This room is much more soundproof, so you can screech at me to your heart's content as you seem so keen to do."

Faith frowned and actually stomped her foot petulantly, "FINE." She relented, "but one wrong move and I swear-"

"Yes, yes, something awful, you don't trust me, I get the gist, dear. Now get out of the hall."

She stormed in, really only a few paces past the threshold, the dress she'd changed into for dinner swishing somewhat dramatically as she stopped sharply and immediately wheeled around to watch me close the door and step in myself.

"Now would you care to explain what that whole fiasco was at dinner?" I said standing a few paces away, arms crossed.

"I still meant it, Eric. I didn't mean to say it in front of Ellie and Solomon, but I still meant it," she said stubbornly. "If you think just because your ancestors were able to rape their brides into submission that you can do the same to me, you're wrong."

"Oh yes, because I've been doing such a good job of that since bringing you back here," I retorted.

She scowled, and grasped the cross around her neck, "This is the only thing dissuading you!"

"No, it is not. If I truly wanted to be 'raping you into submission', as you so _eloquently_ put it, I would be. Crucifix or no," I said darkly, "Haven't I proven to you it's merely a strong deterrent?"

"I think you're trying to scare me, and it's not going to work. I'm not weak like they were. I hate them, and I will never be that pathetic, compliant, appeasing bride," she said, unwilling to back down.

"I'm not asking you to be," I responded steadily.

"Aren't you? You've carried on their legacy thus far. That's your next step. I refuse to be like them. I'm my own person and I don't belong to you! My predecessors were brought up to be compliant and to satisfy whoever they married, but it's the fucking twenty-first century, Eric, and I'm not them. I won't roll over and please you!" her voice climbing in agitation.

"You're so supercilious about it aren't you," I said sardonically, fed up with Faith's disparaging behavior. "So quick to dismiss your predecessors' willpower. Labelling them as weak and yourself as strong."

"They _were_ weak. At least, I'm still fighting you five years later!"

"I can assure you, you wouldn't be under the same treatment as your fellow brides."

"You did your worst, and I didn't just accept it like they did!"

I stepped closer to her, more and more fed up with her behavior tonight, wishing for a brief moment that she was without her cross, if only so she would be more cautious with that sharp tongue. She was being needlessly cruel, knowing I couldn't do anything to her and I was done with it. I was going to teach her a lesson in cruelty and I wouldn't even have to touch her.

I dropped my voice to a husky whisper and circled her slowly, "I did far from my worst, Vi. You would cave." I said knowingly, "If I took you night after night, day after day, using you ceaselessly, learning every inch of you until I could make your body sing with the slightest of touches," as I continued, I watched as she pulled into herself and I knew she was thinking of the last time I'd had her. "Or if I marked you and lavished attentions on you beyond what your senses could handle, tasting you as I forced your body to betray you. Imagine me tying you down and taking you deeper and deeper, unrelentingly until you were drowning in your own desire. Burning up and begging for completion – praying I would give it to you but not knowing if I would – no matter how you implored," she shivered almost imperceptibly as I continued to stalk around her, "Taking you to the edge of ecstasy again and again, and throwing you over it whenever I so pleased – and only when I pleased – my name ripped from your throat every time in a beautiful, sensual moan of bliss. Well," I chuckled darkly, "tell me you wouldn't promise to do just about anything to get what you wanted. Because I think you know at that point you would submit to anything I wanted in exchange for your pleasure, or at least to stop your pain," I said stepping back ever so slightly to admire my handiwork.

I had really gotten Faith utterly flustered. Her cheeks were crimson, her breathing unsteady, heart rate accelerated, and I could smell the blood singing through her veins. It was a lovely sight to behold, and though much of it was fear, there was the smallest part of it that was arousal, a ghost of our shared past. I smirked as I dropped the final blow. "Oh wait, I think I have done some of that before, and if I recall correctly it had very satisfactory results. You were quite compliant. I wonder how far the rest would get me." Oh yes, if she got to play dirty then it was only fair I be allowed to respond in kind. And she wasn't invulnerable.

"You bastard, you wouldn't," she breathed. It was satisfying to know I could affect her so.

I finally stepped back with a shrug allowing her some space, satisfied with my victory, "No, love, as I've stated repeatedly, I will not do anything without your expressed permission, but I could, and you would be mine. I believe you should rethink your ire for your fellow brides."

"Be that as it may," she conceded, making me perk up as she shakily collected herself, "It doesn't justify your ancestors' behavior…or your own."

"Oh, I never said that," I said dismissively, sitting down lightly on the edge of the bed with a smirk, "forgive me, I just need to bask in this moment. I do believe I just won a round with you. It's such a rare occurrence."

She frowned, "At least your ancestors had the decency to persuade their brides," she remarked sharply, obviously upset at the levity.

My smile fell, my victory almost crushed as quickly as I'd celebrated it. It wasn't a total loss though. "Do you remember nothing?" I asked rhetorically.

"Oh to be so lucky," she laughed derisively.

"I tried, Faith, you refused to be Persuaded, surely you remember that. You wouldn't allow me to."

"My mind was not my own!"

"I believe that would be the point. You chose to keep yourself present, you fought and threw off my Persuasion many times. Don't try to make me sound more the monster as if I took some perverse pleasure in claiming you against your will. I tried to sway you, every time – even if only temporarily."

"And would that have comforted you, if I had been 'willing' even if only by your Persuasion?" she bit back.

I sighed heavily, "What do you want me to say, Faith? It happened. The circumstances were horrible regardless of whether you cried during or after."

A long silence fell before Faith posed her next question. "Were there really others?"

"Other what?" I asked carefully.

"Other vampires. Was it truly a race? You implied last time that I was…that I am shared. But I don't have any proof that's true."

"You think I would have done what I did if it wasn't true? And what about Xavier and his lackeys? Or have you repressed that memory beyond retrieval." I asked unable to keep the bite out of my tone, appalled and offended by the lengths to which she made me irredeemable.

"So that was his name," she said more to herself, "You still could have orchestrated that."

"To what end?! Why would I risk you in such a way, especially now that you know it would have fully dissolved our bond." The look on her face told me she hadn't put that together yet. "As I said before, you'd find a fair amount of answers in the records if you bothered to look."

"Thanks, but I'd rather not read more stories about thirteen-year olds forced to produce an heir after having two perfectly healthy girls."

"Well, now I _know_ you didn't read them. Calia was nearly twenty-four at that point."

"My point still stands," she retorted flatly, crossing her arms.

I shrugged at her, feigning nonchalance, "And you don't think the Dracula ever faces consequences for his actions?"

"Why would they. The system's rigged."

"So, you wouldn't be interested in the fact that Calia's children murdered the Dracula?"

She started, obviously caught off guard by the information. "They what?"

I nodded.

She shook her head disbelievingly, "That's…There's no way."

"It's true, if you'd bothered to read the rest of the record you would have found that out yourself."

"But he was – he…" she trailed off, somehow unable to wrap her mind around it as she dropped her arms.

I stood and walked back over to her, "You seem to be under the impression that the Dracula is completely invulnerable – I promise I am not. I won't deny the idea of you doing the same thing to me hasn't crossed my mind. While you may fear I'll have sway over the children I think the reality would be anything but. You hold complete influence over them, and should you decide to 'off' me, I'm sure they would willingly follow."

She was struck by this. It had apparently never occurred to her that the joint force of her and her children could be used against me someday; that I feared one day it would be. I was feeding her invulnerability, but I was also humanizing myself – at least I hoped. Another loaded silence fell as Faith gripped her hands into the skirt of her dress before she finally responded.

"I won't pretend I've never imagined…killing you. But I won't do it. I'm not a murderer. And I certainly couldn't make Ellie or Solomon part of it. The real question is if you'll allow me to continue to influence them, or will I be relegated to the sidelines."

"You flatter me with such vows of faithfulness, love," I said teasingly, "but no, dear, I love who you've begun shaping our children to be. I won't make you and the children unhappy by separating you," I said stepping closer again, "After all, that'd be quite counterproductive to my efforts to please you and bring you back to your rightful place."

"And I suppose you think that's beside you," she said sardonically, frowning as she met my eyes.

"Mmm, I was thinking beneath me would be preferable," I purred near her ear before pulling back, enjoying the way she flushed angrily.

"What's with you tonight?" she snapped, "You're being all pervy."

I hummed some light agreement, "Perhaps, but your reactions are particularly enlightening tonight."

"Whatever you think you're interpreting I'll set the record straight, I'm not into it."

"Your actions don't lie, Violet, you may have very complicated feelings regarding me, but you are intrigued by what I offer."

She surprisingly shrugged as she took a step back toward the door, "You can imagine whatever you like, but again, I'm not interested. I'm only interested in a relationship built on mutual respect and trust, neither of which you have offered me. Now, I'm tired and I'm going to bed."

"You're quite welcome to stay," I suggested. I saw her blush rise and a frown crease her face.

"Your generosity knows no bounds," she said sarcastically as she went to open the door. I quickly got up, and leaned against the door, keeping her a few moments more.

"You should know you are welcome to join me at any point, love. It will only be sleep unless you want more," I said, my tone serious but allowing a small note of teasing to remain. I removed my weight from the door, and Faith opened it, not meeting my gaze.

"Goodnight, Eric, you win by the way – I'll read your stupid records, but I won't like it," she said moving to walk out, unwilling to acknowledge my final statement.

"Faith might I-" I stopped short not quite sure if she would actually listen to me, surprisingly she did stop and even deigned to make eye-contact, distrustful and cautious as it was. I sighed as I analyzed all that had passed between us that night and so many other nights.

"I know my sins against you, Faith, don't ever believe me to be unaware of them. That being said, you don't need to use them against me at every turn. I know, trust me, I know. And trust me when I say that the guilt of those sins will never leave me for all of eternity. I will never be able to fully atone for them; I will never deserve you, but this is where we are. And if this is where we are to be, I'd ask for you to judge me by my actions now, rather than those of my past. I'm not asking you to forget, I'm just asking for a chance at happiness - for both of our sakes."

Her response, though quiet, was almost immediate and left no room for misunderstanding, "You're asking for a second chance. And I'm not willing to give that."


	6. Chapter 6

FTAWM Chapter 6

Eric POV

I was floored, she stated it so simply, but it was a devastating response. "I-I don't understand."

"It's simple Eric, I can't give you a second chance. I won't."

"Why not?" I demanded in absolute bafflement.

She ducked her head away, "This isn't something I'm discussing with you," she said beginning to leave.

I grabbed her arm in a final effort, grimacing at the burn and immediately releasing her again, though thankfully it was not for nothing as she stopped in surprise, realizing my desperation through my actions. "Please, Faith, talk to me."

She began to tear up, "Please, don't make me do this." I merely waited with baited breath, praying she would answer my question. She looked away and finally relented, "If I give you a second chance, there's the chance I could end up liking you as you are now."

"I could think of no better outcome," I said carefully.

"NO!" she interjected immediately, slamming the door shut, turning sharply – skirt fanning out around her briefly– and taking a step back into the room. "It would be a TERRIBLE outcome! If that happens then you win! Then THEY all win too!" she said, angry tears leaking from her eyes and beginning to stream down her face once more.

"I win? They win? What are you talking about? There would be no winning or losing for either of us."

"No, you're wrong; you would win because after everything you've put me through you'd end up getting everything you want! They get exactly what they would want too, just another bride rolling over and accepting her abuser. Another case of this broken awful system working out for you," she was sobbing at this point.

"Faith, please, I can't bear to stand by helpless with you in this state," I pleaded.

She shook her head sharply, "No. You don't get to play concerned."

"I AM concerned," I said. "You would still spite your own chance at happiness?"

She threw her hands out helplessly, "Surely you understand that if I accept it will make my struggle ultimately pointless! It will only show Solomon and his children and his children's children that it's fine to continue using their ancestors' methods of acquiring a bride. It will be an example to prove that raping a thinking, feeling, human being will work out in your favor," She said, pointing accusingly. "So yes, Eric, I will spite it because I can't have my happiness on my terms – and I refuse to have it on yours. Surely, you've figured that logic out by now? I was willing to die rather than come back to you; I probably still would be if it weren't for the kids."

"And how long will you spite it? Years? Decades? Centuries?"

"I figure I'll age out of your interest in a decade or two if you're serious about this 'respecting my wishes'. That, or you'll cave and that will only prove my point. Either way, in the long run, this is the only way I win."

"By making both of us lose."

"If that's what it takes for something to finally change," she said resolutely.

I sat down heavily on the bed rubbing my temples and letting the silence settle in until some of the tension dissipated. How had the night taken such a sharp turn? How was I ever going to fix this? Maybe Faith had been right all those years ago, maybe I really couldn't fix us. I had continued trying but I only had one card left. A card I'd saved for much too long. The only hope I had at this point of ever softening Faith's hatred of me. It was time for me to play it; far past time if I was being honest.

I was putting everything out on the table.

Faith POV

Eric sat on the edge of the bed, stone silent, looking defeated with a tiredness that spoke to the centuries hidden beneath a young exterior. The silence stretched on for a good minute, maybe more as he seemed to come to a conclusion. He quietly patted the space on the bed next to him. I was so caught off guard by it I didn't even know how to begin responding. Was he literally expecting me to come close to him after I'd practically told him he'd never get anything out of me again unless by force? And on a bed of all places?! Did he think me stupid? But as he looked up at my obvious delay and met my gaze, it was a look I had only seen a few times: resignation. Using me was the farthest thing from his mind right now.

Stomping down my gut instinct, which was screaming to me that this was a trap, I walked over cautiously and perched on the edge of the bed, more than an arm's length away, though Eric seemed uncaring - appearing relieved that I hadn't refused his silent request.

We sat for at least another minute in silence, as I became more and more jittery scrunching and releasing the fabric of my skirt over and over. I could only wonder what was running through the vampire's head, but he gave no hints to his thoughts or what he was eventually going to say to me, though it was obvious he had some sort of long-winded response coming.

"You seem less than likely to revisit the records, and while I can't truly blame you with the first two you've read being what they are, there is one story that you are entitled to know that I've kept from you much too long. One you won't find in the text you're reading."

"Eric, it's really late, we don't have to do this right now, I told you, I'll read the records…eventually," I said quietly, shifting uncomfortably.

He pinned me with a look that somehow both confused me and yet spoke volumes, "Things will only get more difficult the longer you don't know. Take this as my last and only plea for you to change this stance you've taken."

"I don't –"

"You do, Faith, I promise you want to hear it," he stated, not raising his voice but obviously anticipating my response.

I shut up. He seemed so resolute and though I was skeptical, I was also extremely curious. What could he possibly want to tell me? Why was he suddenly so solemn? I couldn't begin to guess what he would say next.

"Her name was Elizabeth," he started quietly after another long pause. "though to me she was Ellie." My eyebrows rocketed up in surprise at the name. I'd wondered privately why Eric was so insistent on calling Ellie by her full name. I had a feeling it would make sense by the end of this story.

"She wasn't maybe three years older than you were when I first met you, but it was a very different time and she was a different person," Eric continued, unaware or possibly indifferent to my small revelation, "Though she had no title to her name, she lived comfortably in a village in the English countryside as the daughter of a tavern keeper. She was highly sought after by many of the eligible bachelors in town but, she chose to love me, the mysterious stranger who came to town every so often in the evenings from a neighboring village, just far enough to be unknown to her but just close enough to be believable that I could visit. We began to court in secret unbeknownst to anyone in town or especially anyone in my community as I was in the unstable position of competing for the title of Dracula. The last thing I wanted was for my advantage to be discovered – not until she was mine."

"You had another bride?" I stammered, unable to help myself as I suddenly fit all of the pieces together.

He shook his head in the negative, but offered no explanation, merely continuing with his story. "We saw each other often and took care not the be discovered by the town on her part, or by the community on mine. But Ellie loved me, and I loved her, and at long last, she agreed to elope with me. I would come collect her in two nights time, when I planned to reveal everything to her and to ask her truly to still come with me. However, unknown to me, I was discovered by my enemies as I came back, and Xavier, knowing what advantage this would afford me, had – had her taken," his voice tripped up slightly with emotion that he quickly seemed to swallow. "Of course, he had no traceable connection to what befell her, but it was him, and he let me know it.

"There had to be at least three of them that descended upon her the night that I was to meet her to take her away with me." I watched as his gaze became vacant and haunted as he continued. I felt dread building in me for what was to come next.

"They dragged her away with them and they took every bit of information they could from her in any way they pleased," he started again, slowly. "They violated and abused her and drove her half mad with their torment far away from the safety of the village; and once they knew she had barely any life left in her, they brought her back to our meeting place that she had divulged early on, and left her there, barely clinging to life for me to find. By the time I arrived, she was almost gone, unable to even recognize me as I frantically called to her and in pure desperation tried to Turn her." He paused, and his voice dropped to barely more than a whisper, "she died in my arms never knowing my role in her untimely and horrific end. Never knowing what she a part of. Never knowing who I really was. And worse still, no one knew of her end because of our plans to elope. She'd written a letter that was found in the morning that said she'd gone off far away, never to return. I alone was left to bear the burden of her death, no one else even aware that she'd departed this world at nineteen." He said, seeming to end his story, but a certain tension hung in the air that told me he wasn't yet done. I waited silently for him to continue.

"I was resolved to never bring another mortal into my world. Should I get a second chance at a mate, I would leave her to her life and not drag her into the politics surrounding my position. I had earned my place as Dracula despite Xavier's treachery, and I alone would deal with any retaliation. It was my way of honoring Elizabeth's sacrifice, and for almost a century it was a promise I was able to keep." Eric's gaze softened almost imperceptibly and for the first time during this story he looked over at me, "And then I caught scent of you."

He shifted slightly as he looked away once more, "It started as pure curiosity. I wanted to find you and see who you were, how you lived, maybe to vicariously see your life pan out happier than my own, but as I got closer and closer to tracking you down, I realized quickly I was not the only one doing so." He sighed, sparing me another quick glance, "Eventually I found it was Xavier and his lackeys, though this time with as much of a legitimate claim to you as myself, and I was forced to change my mind. I had to pursue you – whoever you were, and I had to win you. I couldn't let you fall into their hands for your sake and for my own."

He smiled sadly to himself, "You were so young when I finally did find you; and absolutely nothing that I expected. Uncomfortable with my attention, unwelcoming to my advances, completely unable to be swayed and even unknowingly repelling me at every turn – it made me all the more intrigued that you were so impervious to my charms, but all the more worried as I began to see your potential and the actions that would be required to win. To save you from a fate worse than Elizabeth's."

"What fate could be worse than what she suffered?" I couldn't help but blurt out.

He glanced at me gravely, "One where you would be fully bonded to a monster like Xavier. He could siphon off your power until you barely clung to life. He'd have kept you weak and exhausted, unable to use your power as your own. You'd get periods of respite in order to generate more power, but never enough that you'd have any idea or chance to discover how to use it yourself. You'd only learn how to avoid the pain of having it ripped from you and pray for reprieve from his cruel attentions. That is the kind of future you could have had."

"Surely they weren't the only ones available to me. If I was as widely available as you seem to imply, there had to be others out there I was a mate to," I argued somewhat desperately, though why I didn't know; his story wasn't supposed to sway me like this.

He nodded his head, "It's very likely there were others with no agenda and no standing within the community, but from what you've heard of Xavier and his followers do you think that would deter them in the slightest? You would have still ended up in their hands. I was the only one powerful enough to take you and keep you." He moved to face me, "I told myself it was for you as much as it was for me, but I knew that the scale was far from balanced. Though my reasons for not letting you fall into Xavier's hands were not altogether selfish, they were still far from altruistic." he admitted freely, looking down at his hands.

"So, I tried not to care. I tried to see you as nothing but a liability that I could frighten into submission. A liability I would take care of and treat well, but nothing more. It would be a bleak life but the best I thought the situation could offer," he stopped and his eyes met mine meaningfully, "but I got too close, and by the time I realized I truly did want you as my mate, I was under too much pressure and much too far into the role I'd given myself."

I stared at him feeling completely overwhelmed, there was purely too much for me to consider. My head was starting to spin. Silence settled in as I began to grapple with the information. "You – you don't…" I trailed off, unable to complete the thought, a headache beginning to form. "I need to process all…this," I said vaguely as I carefully slid off the bed and walked back to the door, "I can't…I- you-…I don't," I fumbled, panicking ever so slightly and letting out an unstable laugh as I raked my hands back through my hair in distress. My mind continued to wrestle with everything Eric had presented me with yet continued to come up empty. It was so damn unbelievable.

"Take your time, I'm aware it's a lot to take in," he cut in, "I'm certain you'll have questions once you process a bit. I just…I can't keep you from the truth of your circumstances any longer," he finished, the regret palpable in his tone.

I opened the door and stepped out but paused and turned around. "If there's one thing you can rely on I guess it's that I'm a skeptic," I said quietly, peeking up at him.

"You wouldn't be you if you weren't," he said with the ghost of a smile on his face, still sitting on the bed.

"Goodnight, Eric," I said faintly, pulling the door towards me.

"Goodnight, love," he answered as I shut the door silently and bowed my head against it, my mind in distress. It couldn't be true, and yet it had to be true, and yet, it couldn't be true, and yet it had to be true, yet – my mind circled incessantly. I slowly made my way back to my room and laid down in the bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling trying to process, but feeling like my mind was a frozen computer sending the same error message in an endless loop.

After hours of trying to turn my brain off, I gave up and headed down to the library looking frantically for the records. I didn't have Eric's ring which had acted like a key, but quickly found the knot in the wood, wondering if there was a way I could pop open without. I grabbed a bobby pin off one of the end tables (I'd taken to littering them everywhere) and hurriedly began to bend it.

It took forever, but I finally heard a click as the shelf swung out and I was met with stacks of books. My eyes landed on mine almost immediately, recognizing it from last time. I grabbed it and was tempted to take it for later but realized immediately that would be a traceable crime. I put it back and searched instead for what I'd come for finally finding it a few books in. _Eric and Elizabeth_ was pressed into the spine and a cursory glance at the first page told me it was indeed Eric's account in his handwriting. I grabbed it, sat at the desk where I'd first encountered my record, turned on the lamp, and began to read.

Maxell POV

Marissa and I had done a great job thus far of staying out of Eric and Faith's way. We'd made ourselves scarce when need be and present when the situation called for it, but tonight had definitely been one to stay out of. While Marissa argued that she needed to be as present as possible for impartial accuracy, once we heard from afar what went down at dinner we knew there was no interfering for the rest of the night. Most of the drama moved upstairs after that, we heard a few spurts of yelling but after that things had gone silent. After going to inspect, it seemed that Faith and Eric had moved discussion into Eric's bedroom, which explained why we could no longer hear anything.

"What do you think they're discussing?" Marissa said nervously when I returned.

"Who knows, they've been in there a long time," I said at a loss. "Though I would guess they've continued discussion from dinner."

"Yes, but who knows where that could lead," Marissa fretted.

I wrapped my arm around her, "Rissa, Eric has it under control. He knows what he's doing when it comes to Faith."

"Yes, but she knows what she's doing now too. It's more of a standoff than ever."

"Well, I have a feel the standoff is ending," I said quietly, "they've been in there for hours."

"I'm going to go check-"

"Nononono, you stay here. We'll check on the fallout in the morning," I told Marissa.

"I hate this job," she said quietly.

"I'm starting to agree with you there."

.

A/N: oops that wasn't quite a week...close enough right? Thanks for continued support and love for this story. I appreciate each and every one of you so much.


	7. Chapter 7

FTAWM Chapter 7

Ellie POV

Solomon and I were almost through with eating our breakfast when Eric finally came downstairs. He frowned slightly, "Have either of you seen your mother yet this morning?" he asked.

We both exchanged a look and then shook our heads. "Not this morning," I said. It was almost noon though at this point.

Eric looked thoughtful for a moment but seemed to dismiss it, "well, no harm, she can join us whenever she decides. I was thinking we'd go through another Romanian lesson for you two and then we can revisit some techniques for controlling your abilities, unless you would like to expand upon them." I knew we both could hear the underlying question of whether or not we would tell him the abilities we already had. I looked over at Solomon again remembering the conversation we'd had following our first lesson.

"If we tell him, we lose any advantage we have. He'll know how to block us," Solomon had said stubbornly.

"But if we don't tell him we can't learn how to use them better!" I'd argued back.

"I still don't trust him, and you shouldn't either. If you tell him that's on you, but don't bring me into it. Besides, what if he does know how to fool you after that? You'll never see anything from him again."

"Oh, no, then I'd have to actually read him like a normal person," I had retorted sarcastically.

"I'm just saying, you'd be losing a lot of information. Information we need if we are going to protect mom."

We silently went through the same argument between us again and when it ended the same way, I looked over to see Eric watching.

"I take it I lost again," he said dryly. We blinked at him in surprise. He smiled slightly at our disbelief, "I know an argument when I see one. Though I'm surprised how close the argument seems to be, so that is hopeful," he said with a wink at me. I couldn't help but giggle. Solomon didn't find it funny.

"Alright, off to the study," Eric said, gesturing for us to follow.

Faith POV

I woke up groggily but sat upright in panic at finding myself somewhere unfamiliar. I quickly calmed as I realized I was still in the library hunched over the desk with Eric's record in front of me and the shelf still wide open from my lock-picking. I'd at some point found a scrap sheet of paper and started using a pen on the desk to jot down notes and questions but had fallen asleep on them and smeared two questions considerably. I rubbed at my eyes and looked around, what time was it? The windows were light, and it seemed past midday. I looked down at the short question list to see if I could make out the two with the smears.

_What is between you and Xavier? _

_Why couldn't you let me be taken by him?_

I re-outlined a few letters and then was struck with another question which I jotted down, considered, and then scribbled out completely; it was a pointless question. There was no reason to torment myself with hypotheticals. God, this whole thing was giving me a headache again. I pushed the thoughts away for now, folding the piece of paper to put into my pocket, quickly returning the record to its exact location that I'd noted last night, and shutting the shelf with a telltale 'click'. The bobby pin was extremely misshapen but now a prized possession, it went into my pocket as well. I began to walk to the door only to have it open abruptly, almost hitting me in the face.

"Oh my gosh, sorry, there you are!" Marissa said with regret quickly followed by relief. She then seemed to take in my appearance. "Did you…sleep in the library?" she asked, baffled.

"No," I lied unconvincingly, "What time is it?"

It's almost two," she said eyes narrowing slightly at my response, "we were really starting to wonder where you'd gotten off to."

"Where are the kids?"

"Beats me, I think they were with Eric but I'm not sure, that was like an hour ago."

"Thanks," I said and began to leave.

"Wait!" she exclaimed almost reaching out to grab me but thinking better of it at the last second. I stopped and turned back. "What went down between you and Eric last night?" she said almost tentatively, "He hasn't said anything and he's usually so forthcoming with things I miss."

"We had a fight," I said dismissively.

Marissa face changed into one of annoyance and she stepped in front of me. "Faith, that was no run of the mill fight. You guys never 'just fight'. Especially not this time. I heard what happened at dinner and you guys were in his room for hours. I'm pretty sure I heard the door slam at one point as well!"

I rubbed at my temples, "Marissa, I'm so not in the mood. There's still a lot that needs resolving, maybe I can tell you then."

"If I waited for everything to be resolved between the two of you I'd never write another word," Marissa deadpanned. "Spill."

"I'm still working through everything he told me, please, give me a break," I pleaded.

Marissa rolled her eyes, "Fine, can you at least tell me what he told you?"

I sighed heavily, "He told me about Elizabeth, now will you please move?"

Marissa face morphed into one of shock and I saw about sixty questions bubble up inside of her, yet she quickly pushed them down and stepped aside. I thanked her and walked away toward Eric's office in search of the twins.

Eric POV

They were both picking up Romanian incredibly fast and I knew I'd have to work with Faith much more often to keep pace. However, Eleanor and Solomon alike were incredibly stubborn when it came to exploring their powers. I was trying to figure out what they were capable of, devising tests that might trick them into revealing their abilities, but they held their cards ever-close to their chest. It was almost more of a clue than anything else. They believed they had an advantage over me while I was unaware, and they didn't want me to have a chance at taking that advantage away.

In one sense, I was proud they knew not to share their abilities with just anyone. In another, it was driving me insane.

I heard a knock on the door interrupting our lesson and Faith came in looking somewhat more disheveled than usual. She was in the same clothes from last night and her hair was unkempt. She had a large smudge of what appeared to be ink on her forehead where her bangs had parted. She'd been writing something? All night?

"Are you alright?" I asked after taking in her appearance.

"Yes, nothing to worry about. I wanted to see the two of you," she said glossing over my question to address the twins.

"We were mostly finished with our lesson anyways," I said with a bemused frown, "I'll leave you three – though, Faith, we should go over some more Romanian as you missed a lesson this morning." She nodded her acceptance and I decided to take it. "I'm needed in a meeting tonight, so I won't be joining you for dinner, but I will likely see you tomorrow." She nodded again distractedly only focused on the children. I finally made my exit and after a moments deliberation realized I couldn't help myself – I stood outside the door and listened to what she had to say.

Faith POV

I knelt down in front of the twins feeling a lump grow in my throat. "Eleanor, Solomon, I wanted to apologize to both of you for how I acted last night. I said a lot of things I had no business saying, especially not in front of you." I paused, knowing the next part of what I was going say was the hardest but also resigned to the fact that it was the right thing to do.

"I know you both have learned a lot from me about your father that you shouldn't know, and for that I'm sorry. I just want you to know that you're allowed to build a relationship with him if you want to. If not, that is completely up to you," I said sincerely, "but I just don't want you to think you'll be betraying me in some way if you do. He cares about you, just like I do, and you're allowed to respond to that." I shifted slightly and reached out to hug them both which they obliged but squirmed away quickly after, something they'd never done before, it was somewhat hurtful, but understandable with the circumstances. "I love you both so much and I'm sorry you two had to hear me like that."

"It's okay, Mommy," Solomon said, "We're just worried about you."

I kissed the top of his head as I stood, "I can worry about myself, you don't need to worry for me, okay? Promise me you'll put my problems out of your mind."

"Promise," the two of them said quietly.

"And will you forgive me for last night?" I asked.

"Of course," Ellie responded, while Solomon nodded his agreement.

I sighed in relief and kissed both of their heads again quickly. "Thank you both. What did I ever do to deserve you two?"

They smiled at me, "Must have been something pretty awful!" Ellie quipped suddenly, before bursting into giggles.

After the initial shock of Ellie's retort, I found myself laughing as well, "Alright, you rascals, let's go find some food to whip up. I feel like cooking tonight."

"And, Mom?" Solomon grabbed my attention, "You have a bunch of ink on your forehead."

Eric POV

I felt barely present at the council meeting that night. My mind was too consumed with what I'd overhead Faith say to the twins. She done something completely unexpected in granting them her blessing to develop a relationship with me. Though it was unlikely they'd tell me everything tomorrow or trust me without question, it was still baffling and made me dare to hope that what I'd told her last night had had some effect on her.

I was able to coast through the meeting without trouble and headed back very late. I made my way to the bedroom still lost in thought and opened the door to find Faith sitting patiently by the fireplace, looking much more put together than earlier in a lavender satin pajama set, her bangs held back with a soft headband while the rest of her hair fell in a braid resting over her shoulder.

"Faith, it's nearly 3 am what are you doing here?" I asked in surprise.

She shrugged, "I wasn't able to sleep. And I really want some questions answered."

"Now?"

"Unless you have something better to do?" she almost challenged, though it was still very much a question.

I wandered over to sit across from her, "Of course not," I said, "I'm just surprised. I thought you'd take more time to process."

She glanced down and fidgeted with a piece of paper that I realized must have her written questions on it; slowly the pieces were coming together from earlier. "I'm by no means at peace with any of this yet," she said. She seemed very on-edge.

"Are you alright, love?" I asked, concerned by her demeanor.

"I'm fine," she said, her voice tight and clipped, telling me that she was quite the opposite.

"You're free to ask me any questions. I doubt you'll come up against one I'm unwilling to share the answer to."

"I'm deciding if I even want the answers to begin with."

I said nothing in response to that. There was really no way to respond. I merely waited patiently.

"What's between you and Xavier?"

I smiled slightly, "You never settle for the easy questions do you." I said rhetorically. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I considered her question, "There's a lot of history. We were cousins actually."

"Were?"

"Xavier's dead, Faith; I thought you knew that," I said. She shook her head slowly. I nodded, "I killed him when I drew from you the day you escaped. Him and many of his followers."

She paled. "Why?"

I settled back into the chair, "Because we were rivals for the Dracula position. We had similar bloodlines, we both had a claim – but I won." I frowned as I remembered it all, "He had a platform to reverse many decrees put in place by the former Dracula that had relegated our community to the shadows. Those decisions keep our kind safe and thriving and also protect humans. But there are insurgents, even still, who see them as oppressive and want to have us leave the shadows and rule the night as our kind once did centuries ago. Xavier appealed to these types and even after losing the Dracula title to me, tried to undermine and kill me at every turn."

"But why were you competing for the title? If Solomon's your heir, then isn't it lineal?"

"The former Dracula had no heir of his own. Just so you're aware, your questions thus far are actually wandering much more into his story and would be easier to explain with that context if you truly want to know."

She nodded her understanding, making me guess she would leave that line for now hopefully she wouldn't circle back to it. She looked down at her list briefly, "um, Turning. You mentioned it and I could sense it meant something, but I figured I'd confirm that you do, in fact, mean turning into a vampire…right?"

I smiled, "A smart catch," I praised, "I barely lingered on that."

"Was that on purpose so I wouldn't catch it?" she challenged with a glare.

I couldn't help but laugh, "No, I'm merely impressed; I always seem to underestimate your powers of retention."

She blinked in surprise and fidgeted nervously; there was something she wasn't saying. I continued but noted the behavior. "The answer is, yes, 'Turning' does mean that."

"Is it something the children or I will be undergoing?" she asked.

"The children will undergo it naturally. You will never need to."

"Why not?"

"Well, it's not a pleasant thing to undergo; if it's not natural, it's quite painful. But it can bring someone back from near death. That is the only reason I tried to Turn Elizabeth – it was all that could have saved her. You will never reach that point," I said, conviction coming into my voice. She grew paler but seemed to steel herself for another question, which she finally asked after a long and tentative pause.

"Why was I such a liability? And if I was or, I guess, am, why not just kill me? Why bother with all of this?" she practically whispered.

That was not a question I'd been expecting, in fact I was so completely caught off guard by it I could barely form words for a moment.

"Why… I don't understand your question? Why…what?"

Her eyes, accentuated by her nightwear, practically glowed in the firelight as she bit her lip, worrying her necklace back and forth, betraying her nerves, before she pressed on. "You basically admitted that fundamentally I'm a threat so, I mean, hypothetically wouldn't it be easier? No involvements, no attachments. You've obviously done it before."

It struck me how callous she still believed me to be. The mere thought of killing Faith…it was nauseating. There was truth to her statement though, it would've been easier, yet it had barely crossed my mind. To snuff out someone so full of life and light had always seemed wrong. And when there'd been so much more to be gained…

"What a waste though," I said quietly, the response slipping out as I looked her over reverently. "So much power, so much life, why throw all that away?"

She looked uncomfortable and I realized I was probably staring at her too openly. I composed myself as she responded.

"Why sacrifice so much over a small advantage just to make sure I didn't fall into Xavier's hands? Why push to bind yourself to me irrevocably? Why consign yourself to fighting me for every single thing rather than taking me out of the equation? Just getting rid of the overall insignificant power I could provide to your rivals?"

And there was the flaw in her logic. One of the last things she didn't fully know, and what I'd honestly hoped she might never know until we were bonded. But she'd asked, and I'd promised to answer. "Because the power you offer is far from insignificant, Faith. It's unprecedented."

She was silent for a long moment before posing a very quiet, "What?" in pure confusion.

I wrestled for a while on how to explain, how to maybe circumvent the entire truth. I couldn't though, I was trying to gain her trust. "Vi, you are quite possibly the most powerful bride in recorded Dracula history," I finally said. She merely stared.

"In pursuing you the signs were all there. You were so young, yet your aura was very present, and you were available to so many. It was merely a theory as I started searching you out, but it became truly clear after our bonding that my hunch had been right. And why would I waste so much potential gain by killing you when you could instead firmly establish my rule beyond question? So, to answer your question, I had no qualms with binding myself to you even if I had no basis for you to willingly give me anything, because there was and is the fact that one day you might. And if you were bound to me, you could not be used against me."

She blinked at me, the gears in her head turning wildly. I knew she was failing to wrap her mind around it, but I also knew this one would come back to bite me. She'd have a million more questions later. For now, she merely sat in silence, processing.

"Were there any other burning questions you had?" I asked, still somewhat baffled by her interest and by how well she was taking my answers.

She seemed to debate momentarily, but finally shook her head, crumpling the piece of paper in her hands. I could tell it was a lie, but I let it go, not wanting to throw any wrenches into a non-hostile conversation. I stood and smiled, "Well, then, I guess we should call it a night then. Will you be staying?" I suggested lightly as I had the night before.

I watched as her eyes widened and cheeks flushed as she immediately went to retort but upon meeting my gaze she realized that I was teasing. She huffed and rolled her eyes at me, but I had still seen the momentary panic in her eyes at my question, and I hoped to one day not see it flare in such a way. "No, I'm not, I'm sorry I kept you up," she said quickly.

"No apologies are necessary, I want you to ask me your questions, and you are always welcome in our room," I teased further but sobered my tone slightly to tack on a note of sincerity, "I do mean that though, and you can ask as you wish. I will answer to the best of my abilities."

She had stood at this point to walk over to the door, "Thank you," she said quietly as she reached for the handle.

"Would you stop by again tomorrow night, so you can catch up with your Romanian? You're going to need a lot more practice than the twins," I asked hopefully.

She looked up, "If you insist."

"Well, I won't insist but I'd be pleased if you would."

"Alright," she said, "I will."

A/N: oh hey! ...So I guess the world's ending...i'll try to make some use of this time I suppose. Stay safe out there.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: ...so quarantine, eh? Disclaimer that I do not speak Romanian; I speak *~Google Translate~*

...

FTAWM Chapter 8

Faith POV

The next morning, I woke early and went to the children's rooms hoping they were up as well. I put my ear to Ellie's door and knocked softly. I heard her quickly approach the door and stepped back as she opened it.

"Good morning, mommy," she said with a smile.

"Good morning, honey, can I come in?" I asked.

"Yep! Ollie's still asleep though."

"That's fine, you're the one I wanted to talk to," I explained as I walked in and soundlessly closed the door behind me. I walked over to sit on Ellie's bed as she sat next to me, with a questioning look.

"It hasn't escaped my notice that you're quite open to your father, and I'm not in any way going to dissuade you from that. However, if it's due to something you know or something Solomon found out, I was wondering if you'd share it with me."

She considered momentarily, "I haven't seen any clouds if that's what you mean, Mommy. Not when he's with you or with us or anyone else. You both are really confusing though."

It was the answer I'd guessed at, but to hear it as a certainty was still surprising. It did explain why she was willing to trust him, the question was whether I allowed it to make me trust him as well. "Has your brother told you anything?"

She shook her head, "Ollie's too scared about what he'll see."

"I can't say I blame him," I said to myself. I gently continued, "So he won't listen about what you've seen, will he?"

"No, cuz of whatever you showed him," she said quietly.

I grimaced. It had been a complete accident and I'd done all I could to help afterward, but the damage had been done and there was no way I could fix it, I'd only pleaded with him not to tell his sister. "Well, that's understandable," I said distantly.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, honey?"

"I really mean it, he has no clouds."

"I believe you, don't worry."

"Does that mean you'll be nicer to him?"

I gave her a wane smiled, "I wish it was that simple, Ellie, but it's just not."

"Is it because he hurt you? Like what Ollie saw?"

I nodded sadly, "Yes, it is."

She looked up at me, pouting a little bit, "Why can't I know about it if Ollie gets to? It's not fair."

I looked at her sharply, "Eleanor Joy, we've been over this, you are too young. What happened with your brother was an accident and I will not allow it to affect you as well. Understand?"

She nodded, glumly flopping back on the bed, "I just want you and Ollie to listen to me."

"I'm listening; I promise. You've helped a lot though okay?" I said, laying back with her and hugging her tightly.

"Mommy, that hurts," she said after a moment, squirming away. I immediately let go and sat up.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," I said with a frown.

"It's okay," she said, "I'm going to wake up Ollie."

"Okay, I'll be in the library if you need me for anything. I love you," I said, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead.

"Love you too," she responded.

Marissa POV

I'd gone to Faith's door nervous but determined to get answers. "Can I come in?" I asked quietly after she answered my small knock.

Faith opened the door fully and stepped aside still in her pajamas, "Of course," she said, seeming a little confused. "What's up?"

"I was just hoping to talk. I wanted to know if you would tell me about what Eric told you," I said as I walked into the room, Faith closing the door behind me and walking over to sit on her bed.

She sighed slightly, "I guess you'd know about the whole thing firsthand. It actually might be nice to check some things with you."

The answer I'd hoped to hear. I walked closer and situated myself at the far end of the bed, as it was uncomfortable to be much closer; I didn't know how Eric managed.

She seemed surprised at this at first, "Is that really as close as you can comfortably come?" I nodded. I saw her hesitate and then unclasp her necklace, placing in on the side-table. "Is that better?" she asked nervously.

I moved closer, still keeping a comfortable distance for her, "Much better, thanks," I said with a small but grateful smile. "Will you ever be convinced not to wear that thing?"

"I doubt much will dissuade me, Rissa," she said a little apologetically. "It's my first line of defense. Besides, if I really do house any kind of power, I'd rather not be triggered into using it again."

I'd anticipated the first answer but her second one threw me for a loop. I hadn't considered that her knowledge of her power, limited as it was, would scare her. She saw my surprise, "Caleb was my friend once, I won't ever forgive myself for what happened," she said quietly. "I don't want it to happen again."

Conversation grew from there. I found myself with a new respect for Faith's decision, troublesome as it was, and learned quite a bit from hearing her rendition of the argument a few nights before. She confirmed parts with me, asking a few questions about my involvement but not pursuing it much further. Eric really hadn't held back thought; Faith had been told everything.

"So, does it change anything perspective-wise?" I asked delicately.

She sighed heavily, "It makes my argument take a new angle."

"Such as?"

She stood and began pacing, "Such as regardless of his past, he refused to treat me as a thinking, feeling human being."

"Why attach to someone when your main angle starts as keeping them out of the hands of your enemy?"

"Why should I trust he won't do exactly what he said Xavier would?"

"You think he'd waste his time trying to get you to bond willingly if that were the case?" I reasoned.

She stopped and turned to face me, "It still doesn't change the fact that any give on my parts means he wins. He still gets what he wants after all the things he's done. He doesn't deserve that."

Now that was a hard one, because in a sense she was right. Eric had still done awful things to obtain her the first time. Even if he'd changed tactics now, those choices would still have indirectly led to him getting what he wanted: a willing Faith.

"I don't think that's completely true, Faith. I mean, think about the power you're wielding in this situation. There's the fact that you _have_ a comparable power. That you can match and be immune to Eric's power, something not many brides have at their disposal, makes you his equal; he can't truly subjugate you because you've already been awakened to your power, something no Dracula before him has willingly allowed their bride to achieve.

"And has Eric ever used your own power against you? Has he abused you beyond that night? Did he prolong and revel in your pain after that? Has he ever shown anything but regret and repentance toward you about everything that transpired? Think of the power that puts in your hands. A Dracula willing and wanting to please you, longing only for your approval and forgiveness.

"And if you were to allow him the chance to truly and fully love you, he will spend eternity keeping you happy because he knows how much he's screwed up in the past, and he won't allow himself to lose you again. If you look deeper than things first appear, you have to give Eric a victory, but I think it is you who ultimately wins."

Faith stared at me in shock. She fumbled for words after a substantial silence, "As-as compelling as your argument seems…I-I don't think it holds much water."

"Faith, his only wish now is to make you happy."

I saw tears beginning to form in her eyes as she pointedly stared at the ground, "Then he should have left me with Simon."

That one made me wince. Knowing that this time around Eric had still hurt Faith in a very different way.

Faith looked over at me with a glare, "And I know what you're going to say, that he had to, that he had no choice, but that's bullshit. I could defend myself from anyone who would try to use me against him, and I know you all killed Xavier and most of his followers – what threats remain?" she sat down sulkily in an armchair, "No, if he calls that necessity he's lying to himself. It's purely selfish."

"There are plenty of others who would wish to see Eric removed from power," I said quietly, "And do you really want to put your eggs in that basket of defending yourself when you barely control your power now?"

She made to retort but I quickly raised my hands in yield, "I digress, I've said more than my part. You have your ideas and I have mine. I'm not the one you need to discuss anything further with," I said with a small smile as I stood. Faith nodded a bit distantly but walked me over to the door, "Thank you for talking with me, we should do it more often," I said quietly. "I missed you."

She smiled sadly, "Yeah, that might be nice, I missed you too now that I'm back."

"Just think about what I said? You don't have to agree or anything but…a new perspective is worth examining. You've certainly made me reexamine mine." I said as I left, not giving her a chance to reply.

Eric POV

Faith showed up at my door again that night and we spent the evening learning some basic verb conjugation as I facilitated stilted conversation in order for her to practice while I also tallied her correct attempts. She grasped the ideas well, having learned a Romance Language before, but struggled not to fall back on French conjugations. My solution had been to give her a cheat sheet to practice with.

"Aveți mai multe întrebări de aseară," I finally said after a few minutes of inane sentences. She seemed very distracted. (You have more questions from last night.)

She looked surprised at the real conversation topic and took a few moments searching for her response, "Nu, ei nu." (No, they don't.)

"Eu nu," (I don't) I corrected her conjugation, "și, Faith, te cunosc, întreba." (Faith, I know you. Ask.)

She shifted uncomfortably, "Bine, nu vreau răspunsuri încă." (Fine, I don't want answers yet.)

I added a tally to her correct column but frowned, "De ce nu?" (Why not?)

She searched the sheet for a while, "Acorda-mi timp." (Give me time.)

I added another tally, "Firește." (of course.)

She sighed and shook her head, dropping the cheat sheet onto the comforter, "I'm really tired, I'll look over this conjugation and pluralization deal later."

"Promite?" I asked.

"Da," she affirmed.

I smiled as she stood from her chair by the fireplace and took the same cue, "Vrei să stai?" I asked in teasing.

It took her a moment to work out what I'd asked, but it had the same effect as it had the previous night. "No, I'm not staying, but as always, your generosity astounds," she said sarcastically.

I laughed, deciding to finally switch back to English, "If you would like to take advantage of my generosity someday I'd be quite pleased."

"Noapte buna, Eric," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Noapte buna, dragă mea," I responded.

Faith and I continued meeting after the children had gone to bed. Most nights were focused on her learning more Romanian, others would go into questions from her continued reading of the first few records, which she'd decided to read in full before moving onto new ones. But she never stayed, and she never returned to her other questions.

Maxwell POV

They were an incredibly fragmented group. It was rare to find them all in the same room, let alone interacting together though they did every so often take a meal together. The twins were almost inseparable, but they only seemed to go between spending quality time with Faith or taking lessons from Eric in Romanian or on utilizing their power, though sometimes they would seek out Marissa and I for a game of cards. Faith and Eric had seemingly fallen into some sort of nightly routine once the children had gone to bed with Faith trying to catch up to the children's level of fluency but there still was generally no progress, which had Marissa bored senseless.

"Something's brewing, Rissa," I assured her quietly, "nothing ever stays simple for long. Just be happy for this respite. It never lasts."

"Yes, but at least last time there was a way to help! This time they're actively keeping me at bay!" she complained.

"Personally, I'm grateful. They need to work out their own drama. When do we get to call it and go back home?" I whined to her.

"You know we have to stay in case Faith gets out of hand, both our powers might be necessary for Eric to subdue her should something happen," she chastised.

That thought shut me up, "Honestly, Rissa, I forget who it is we're dealing with most of the time," I confessed.

"That only gives her more of an advantage. Until she's well and truly bonded to Eric she's a threat," she reminded.

I shivered as I let that warning sink in, "Gods I hope she stays dormant," I whispered.

Faith POV

I fell into a bit of a routine with Eric as I progressed with learning Romanian. My days belonged to the twins, but my nights were always spent in his company before I left for bed. I was going through the motions though, my thoughts still too consumed by everything I'd learned. All the evidence from Eric and Marissa and even from Ellie circled endlessly in my head.

Elizabeth's existence had thrown me for a loop. It was easy to forget what Eric truly was, as he hid most of his vampiric traits, and somehow the thought of a different mate from so many years ago had caught me off guard. After reading the entirety of Eric's record in the past few nights it was clear that she'd been a very different person than me: a mate that he'd loved and who'd loved him back. I didn't find it shocking. Instead, I was troubled at the pang of envy it brought.

What I truly found most troubling at the end of it all was that Eric had practically been cornered into all of this as much as I had. I hadn't been the objective. Rather, I had, but for completely different reasons than I'd previously thought. Marissa talked a good game and so did Eric, but I was left with a question I hadn't anticipated: Did Eric even love me?

Sure, I couldn't deny that he'd found something about me intriguing or enjoyable but was that only out of necessity? What if his end game truly was to just subdue me? Not in the frightening way he painted for Xavier, but more subtly. Taking me off the table as a threat by binding me as an eternal ally. Marissa had mentioned I was one of the only mates to have been allowed to explore her power, but what if I was only a liability still? After all, Eric hadn't offered any help on the front of learning and taming my power. And though I'd seen it each time I'd gone back to read Eric and Elizabeth's record, I had yet to reach for my own again – and I couldn't explain why.

I had taken to leaving the bobby pin in a certain alcove of the library where I would retrieve it each time. Tonight, was not one of those times. Instead I contented myself with the original text that Eric had provided. I figured if anything struck me as odd I could always review it in the records to get a better idea. I settled in to read, stopping to look over the sketches provided of Hadrion and Lucan at the beginnings of their sections. After a moment's consideration, I decided to pick up Lucan's story after his murder, finding the subheading titled "The Question of Succession".

_Lydia and Julia tried to flee after the deposition of their father, once they were 12 and 10 – however, this was anticipated, and the castle was surrounded by the members of the council to put the two under a "siege" of sorts so they would stay put. The council refused to recognize either as the Dracula's successor but also wanted to continue the Dracula's line and thus planned to give the eldest, Lydia, to a chosen successor to mate. However, the two girls, unaware of this plan, made a final attempt to escape during the daylight hours. Only one succeeded. Lydia disappeared while her sister Julia was captured. Thus, she, Julia Vohk de Guis, took on the responsibility of her sister and was given to Phillip de Krev as his mate, though neither was drawn to the other._

I sighed as I put down the book. Damn this history was messed up. Two children murdering the Dracula in retaliation for killing their mother was too badass so of course, nothing could just work out in their favor. Poor Julia. The chapter ended there but the next was promisingly titled "Phillip and Julia" along with another sketch, this time of Phillip, so I continued on.

I skimmed through mundane records of their life, different hunts that were spearheaded, travels, trials held and the like until I came across a new point of interest.

_A few decades into their arrangement, Phillip caught scent of his mate. With Julia's blessing, he went off in search of her, leaving Julia behind as regent until his return seeing as he as of yet had no heir. His word was for all intents and purposes, law, thus Julia briefly took up the position of Dracula in the years of his absence. _

Now at that I couldn't help but smile. The council had done everything to make sure neither Julia nor her sister Lydia took their father's position and yet… I counted it as a victory, the second large one to be sure, both thanks to Julia and her sister thus far. I liked this girl and surprisingly Phillip too if he was willing to put Julia on the throne however briefly. I wondered how Eric viewed them. I'd ask at some point. My stomach took this opportunity to remind me I hadn't eaten lunch and it was nearing dinnertime. I sighed and put down the book, happy to leave it open, as the reading I was doing wasn't a secret, and headed out to find the kids.

Eric POV

It had happened. At least, I was quite sure it had happened. The message came at lunch and though I didn't want to assume what it was I knew: Faith and the children were no longer a secret.

"I have to leave tomorrow after dinner and won't be back until late," I said to Faith and the children as we sat at dinner that evening, sighing and pinching the bridge of my nose, "I've been summoned by the council."

Their eyes widened, having learned some of the court structure they would be introduced to. "The council?" Faith asked, "What do they want?"

"I won't worry you unnecessarily until I confirm my guess," I said, making her frown in concern.

"You know what it is," she said.

"I want to be sure first," I responded. "It changes things."

She nodded ever so slightly and went back to picking at her food. The twins stayed silent, taking everything in.

When she finished her food and cleared the table she slipped in a small jab, "I'm going to worry no matter what, so don't bother hiding whatever this is. I won't stand for it anymore."

"Trust me, love, you'll be kept aware. Practice your plurals and I'll quiz you tonight. We can take a break after by brushing up on your French."

"Yes, Sir," she said sarcastically.

As I was walking out I barely heard small footsteps behind me. "Father?" I turned quickly to see Eleanor behind me.

"Yes, pui mea?"

"I…I wanted to talk to you, I want your help," she said quietly.

"Should we go to the study?" she nodded silently. We walked quickly down the hall and into the study and I closed the door quietly while she situated herself in one of the chairs. I took the one across from her, my curiosity growing by the second as she fidgeted nervously.

"What's wrong, Eleanor? Is everything alright?" I asked carefully.

"Yeah, it's just weird doing this without Ollie. But I have to be first I guess," she said, confusing me even more.

"You can tell me anything," I reassured her, "what is it?"

She finally met my eyes, "I'm ready to share what I can do."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hope everyone is staying sane and healthy during this very scary time. I have an especially 'wild' chapter coming that I wrote pre-quarantine with a bunch of people together that I was editing the other day and I fully reread it and mentally went, "Wow, imagine people getting together in public spaces. Can't relate." Quarantine messes with the brain y'all. Anyways. Enjoy some more chapters. I'm trying to be better about getting writing and editing done but like...school. Onward regardless. Thanks for reading.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

FTAWM Chapter 9

Eric POV

It had not been good news. I leaned back in my chair at desk in the study and sighed heavily, raking my hands through my hair. How was I going to do this? How would I ever get Faith to trust me with this kind of obstacle? My mind wandered as I reviewed the past few days. I did have someone's trust. Eleanor had finally confided in me and what she'd revealed was intriguing. I understood the twins' reasoning for keeping it hidden from me for fear of me manipulating it, but I wasn't even sure it was something I could trick. I'd have to test with her as we started expanding upon her abilities. It only made me more curious about Solomon.

I'd sat for a while contemplating, when the door opened softly, and Faith entered the room, dressed for bed. "What are you still doing up?" I asked tiredly.

"I'm not still up, I woke up," she explained as she padded over and knelt on one of the couches behind me, so she was still facing me as I turned in my chair.

"You know my real question is why you're down here," I said.

She shrugged, before leaning down and folding her arms over the back of the couch and under her chin. "I thought I'd check if you were back."

"Miss me, my Violet?" I asked a little cheekily.

"In your dreams," she rolled her eyes. She paused and looked me over, seeming to note my somber demeanor. "I take it your council meeting didn't go well."

"You could say that," I said distantly, still weighing my options, not keen on telling Faith what had truly happened. "What woke you?"

"Nightmare."

That didn't bode well at all for the coming discussion. Were they the type of nightmares I'd seen? Had she been having them throughout our time apart or had they merely resurfaced? I was too scared to ask.

Her surprise was evident, but she didn't press the matter. She disappeared from sight as she laid down on the couch, the silence setting in. After a long while, she piped up again, hidden from my view. "So, is there an explanation in my future or are you going to continue to be cryptic about this meeting you went to?"

I weighed my options but knew that really there was no choice. I had to be as straightforward as possible. She deserved that after everything I'd put her through. I'd kept her in the dark before and it was no way to build our relationship. If I was ever going to gain her trust I had to be upfront, no matter how upsetting the news would be for her. "The council knows about you and the children."

A long pause. "I wasn't aware we were a secret."

"You were; now that they know things get…difficult."

"Difficult how?"

"You and the children have to make your court debut. I bargained for as much time as possible, but the court will only postpone it one meeting. You've been summoned for the end of January," I said with a sigh.

Another pause. "And I'm guessing there's some requirements for that I don't meet. Do I need more Romanian lessons? Etiquette? History?"

"While all of those would be helpful, the most important requirement would be that I need to present my bride," I responded, and then braced myself to drop the other shoe, "Which you technically no longer are."

I couldn't see her, I couldn't feel her as I had through the bond, but the shot of terror that cut through the air was palpable.

"That's barely two months," she finally whispered.

"Yes," I responded. She was silent until I heard the hitch in her breath that told me she was crying.

I stood and made my way around the couch and saw the silent tears that had started streaming down her face while out of sight and it killed me to see the forceful way she was biting her lip to hold in a sob. "Vi, please," I entreated. The dam broke completely, and a heart-wrenching sob escaped her, pure fear in her eyes as I realized she was on the brink of a breakdown.

"Come on, sit up," I said, gingerly guiding her sit up, gritting my teeth against the burns that formed on my hands. It was worthwhile as it was a subtle reminder to her that I could touch her but would continue to refrain. I sat down next to her and removed my hand, closer than was truly comfortable but far enough to ensure she wouldn't continue to spiral. "What was the first thing I promised you when I brought you back?"

She swallowed back a few sobs as she tried to calm herself, "That- that you wouldn't hurt me again."

"I don't intend to break that promise. Have I done anything thus far to make you question my sincerity?" I asked patiently.

She shook her head sharply, her eyes fixed on her hands that were gripping her knees tightly.

I sighed and turned toward her slightly, "I'm not telling you this to put you on edge, I'm telling you because I refuse to keep you in the dark any longer."

She refused to look up as I continued, "I will not hurt you again, Faith. I'm giving you every bit of control in this. However this goal is accomplished is up to you. This is in your hands; when, how, what leads up to it, what follows. I refuse to push you into anything."

"But you're pushing me into _this_!" she exploded, standing abruptly, "You're pushing me into this deadline, you're pushing me into this relationship and then you're feigning regret and guilt as you push the reins into my fisted hands! You say you didn't want it to be like this, but you did. You have your reasons and excuses but, in the end, you're just being selfish as always! Taking me from Simon, taking my children from a normal life, taking away all agency I had in my life only to now offer it back when you and I both know I have about as much agency as a rat in a lab maze. You're not giving me anything, Eric, and we both know it. So don't even pretend to get all magnanimous about giving me control. You've given me nothing." She turned her back.

"I didn't give this deadline! I gave everything I had to not let you be discovered so this could be on your terms!" I shot back as I too stood.

"You think I believe that for a second?" she asked bitterly as she whipped back around, taking a step back toward me, "You can't wait to get your hands on my power! You can't wait to bind me and subjugate me and USE me for your own gain! I'm just a resource for you to exploit! You yourself said that the moment I'm your bride fully I can't use my power against you."

"You're not a mere resource!"

She ignored me and gave a hollow laugh, "Oh, and don't think I missed the fact that while you actively try to work with the twins on how to use and control their power, you've left me in constant fear of my own abilities, terrified I'll kill someone or scramble their brains again if I get too agitated. I guess you're just praying that my power will stay dormant. Well fuck that, and fuck you, because I swear Eric, if I did have any agency or control in any of this…" she trailed off, her chest heaving with the emotion behind her words, and as I looked closer she was shaking as she took a deep unsteady breath. She met my gaze, "I don't want to think about what I'd do," she said her voice sharp and dangerously quiet. "Which I guess is why you're keeping me ignorant," she said with a mirthless laugh. Another unsteady breath, as though she were trying to push something down.

"So, you can stop with your stupid 'I'm saving you' BS because from where I'm standing that horrible future you painted with Xavier doesn't seem that different from the one being painted with you," she finished, turning sharply and walking toward the door without a backward glance. And I snapped – immediately moving to block her path.

"Now you're just being needlessly cruel," I practically growled.

"Just leave!" she shot back, but backed off somewhat abruptly, a baffling mix of rage and terror battling on her face, "Please, stop making me like this!"

"I'm not making you do anything!"

"No, you're making me be like this! Stop it!" She was shaking slightly as she took a step back.

"You are the one who continues to respond this way, I have done nothing to encourage it!"

"I don't want something to happen!" she finally burst out, fear evident in her every feature.

Her sudden and confusing mix of emotions gave me pause and cleared my head. And then I realized what she had just revealed.

Her words, her actions throughout our fight – she could feel her power simmering and had recognized it, explaining why she'd begun backing away from our fight so quickly. I physically stepped back, as I reevaluated what she'd said. She was terrified of herself, paralyzed at the power she had no handle on, and she was trying valiantly to not let it boil over at me – and I was suddenly extremely grateful.

"Faith, I…I had no idea that was how you felt," I said carefully, my mood drastically changed from a few seconds prior. "That was not my intention in the slightest."

"That's bullshit! Why haven't you taught me anything then? Why are the twins being allowed the chance at learning the ropes and I'm not?" she pleaded accusingly, tears starting to fall again, likely from exhaustion at this point. Faith always felt so intensely, and it was the middle of the night; the two together must truly be wearing her thin. I carefully moved back and sat down on the couch again tentatively.

"Because I didn't think you'd want to," I admitted, "and because if I'm being honest, most of what I'm doing with the twins is trying to piece together what exactly their strengths are. Their 'lessons' are shallow at best. If I were to truly teach the way I would have to with you it's a much more invasive process. It requires trust between the student and the teacher, which if you haven't noticed, is in very short supply between you and me." I said with a little bit of rebuke, though I couldn't really fault her. In truth, any trust she gave was unearned.

Ellie POV

He was looking at me in confusion and curiosity but as I had expected there was not a cloud in sight, and nothing had changed enough to tell me he could control it.

"What do you see right now?" he asked carefully.

"You're curious, a little confused too. But nothing cloudy," I answered honestly.

"And by 'cloudy' you mean?"

"It's like…" I struggled for a second trying to remember how mom had put it, "I see the direction and aim of an emotion. If those things are bad, then the clouds appear."

He was confused, but nothing changed, "How far do your abilities stretch? Could you tell me what you see on your mother from where you are?" he asked.

I frowned slightly, "I've never tried from far. But mom's familiar enough that I might be able to."

I felt myself reaching throughout the house searching for mom, "I found her!" I exclaimed excitedly but then shrugged, "She's same as always, too many emotions to pick anything out."

"Incredible," Eric said to himself, "Well, now I believe we can get somewhere with our training," he continued with a smile. He stood and kissed the top of my head, "Thank you, Eleanor, I appreciate your trust more than you can imagine. I unfortunately have to go right now for an important meeting. But trust me, we will start exploring as soon as possible."

I smiled but knew there was one last thing I had to tell him as I grabbed his arm, "Mom has a lot of emotions, but she isn't free of clouds around you. I just thought you should know. I don't want her to have them anymore."

His face fell, and he looked very serious, "What kind of emotions are clouded?"

I shrugged, "I can't tell. I can barely make out all of them."

He nodded sadly, "I'm grateful you let me know."

I smiled again and left, hoping I'd made the right choice.

Faith POV

I tried valiantly to calm myself. There was promise of some answers on the horizon if I could put my panic aside. "In-Invasive how?" I asked.

"Hell, you must be truly scared if the word 'invasive' doesn't immediately turn you off of teaching," he observed more to himself than me as he leaned back.

"It can't be worse than what you've already told me," I snapped, my arms crossed to hug my sides as I paced the room.

He frowned but didn't take the bait. "You'd have to let me access your mind quite freely, which requires some physical contact, which would also be required in helping you control your power once you learn how to properly tap it, seeing as I may have to absorb a fair amount of it if you lose control." He stated bluntly.

Honestly, it seemed a small price to pay if he hadn't already told me the first piece of news. Now I knew any moment without my necklace would only be an opening for him to claim me and be free of teaching me how to control my power and instead subdue it and use it himself.

He sighed heavily, seeming to sense my inner conflict, "Faith, would you have rather I kept it from you? I wanted to give you as much control as possible, and I especially didn't want to have to spring it on you later when time was short."

I couldn't answer. No…yes…I don't know…god, this was infuriating that he was making some sense.

"It doesn't change the fact that you're pushing me into something I don't want, and that you've decided is necessary. I get it, I'm powerful, can't you get it some other way? I don't want this power if it comes with this price. I never asked for it," I said, sitting down heavily on the end of the bed.

"I did not want this. How many times must I say that before you'll start to believe me?" his response was immediate and unyielding.

"I don't believe you because it's not true. Just take away my power, surely you can do that."

"That's not how it works," he said with a heavy sigh.

"That's how _this_ works," I insisted, tears still running down my face, as I pounded a fist into the bedding in frustration, "I willingly give you permission to take away my power so that I will be rendered useless in these politics, and to you. Please."

"No, that's literally not how this works," he struggled momentarily, seeming to desperately wrack his brain, "Your power only exists through you. I can borrow it, I could steal it, but it's unable to be generated apart from you. You cannot be rendered useless," he gazed intensified as it swept over me, "but you 'useful' is probably the furthest thing from what I want."

I said nothing but swiped at my tears.

Eric sighed heavily, "I would suggest you go to bed and get some more sleep but you and I both know that's very unlikely with the state you're in." I said nothing but nodded distantly, my mind starting to retreat rather than deal with this new and harsh reality.

"What can I do, love? How can I put you at ease?"

"You can't," I said with finality, straightening up and exiting, deciding to try to sleep regardless of Eric's troubling news.

I didn't know how to feel about the fact that he let me go without any further comment.


	10. Chapter 10

FTAWM Chapter 10

Eric POV

_ "I get it, I'm powerful, can't you get it some other way? I don't want this power if it comes with this price. I never asked for it." _

I went to bed with Faith's words still ringing in my head as they so often did. There was something about how she'd said it that was nagging at me. There was something buried there in her wording.

"_That's how __this__ works. I willingly give you permission to take away my power so that I will be rendered useless in these politics and to you. Please."_

I grimaced. It was the 'please' that had truly hurt. Faith almost never stooped to 'please' with me. That 'please' implied so much too. She thought I was holding her here while I held an easy solution. And that grated on me to no end. The idea that she still believed I was getting some sick pleasure out of all of this, was the most disheartening thing I'd learned tonight.

"_I will be rendered useless in these politics and to you."_ She thought she was merely useful. That, as she'd said earlier, she was a resource to be tapped. I couldn't deny that her power had been was drew me to her, but now, how could she not see we were well beyond that? That I didn't want her to be 'useful'? How was I ever going to change her mind? How would I ever get her to see that all I wanted was my bride and my family?

Ellie POV

Eric kept his word. We immediately dove into one-on-one lessons. It had been a large step as I had to let him go into my mind every so often, so he could help me understand what I was doing and what I was seeing. We began experimenting with how I could untangle the usual mess of colors I saw and worked on testing my limits. That one even got Solomon and Mom involved as we sent them to separate corners of the manor and realized I could find them and still read them.

Eric was a good teacher. Though he was in my head every so often, he did his best not to scare me and was very good at helping me figure out what I was doing. I was tapping into more power that I hadn't known about, and even Solomon was beginning to see he might get something out of revealing his abilities to Eric. It was still not likely, but I knew there was some conflicting emotions where there hadn't been before.

Mom had taken the news well. She'd told me it was my decision and said she supported whatever I wanted. She wasn't very convincing, but I knew it wasn't really about me. Another problem had apparently come up between her and Eric and she had suddenly become much too easy to read. It wasn't good. She was practically empty.

I told Eric as much as we sat, taking a small break from my lessons. He looked grim but unsurprised. "It's to be expected," he said, and dropped the subject. We sat a little longer before he spoke again. "Would you tell me about Solomon?"

I was immediately wary. "I promised I wouldn't tell on him. It's his choice-"

"No, no, no dear, I don't mean that I just…want to know about him."

Ah, so, he wanted to win Solomon. "What do you want to know?"

He shrugged, "Honestly, anything at this point, the boy refuses to even meet my eyes."

Yeah, I definitely knew why. I sighed. "I don't know, Ollie's kinda my opposite. I mean he's not – we get along really well but I don't know." I began to swing my feet, "People always point out how strangely we balance each other out. I'm trusting, Ollie's cautious; I got mom's hair, he got mom's eyes; I get the ideas, but he usually chooses which to follow; I see people for how they are, he -" I stopped short, realizing what I'd almost given away, maybe that had been Eric's aim after all but as I glanced at him again I only saw curiosity – though it was now somewhat clouded after what I'd said, but only slightly. I couldn't fault him for that.

"Anyways," I said, veering back on course, "we're just very different, and he doesn't change his mind. He's really stubborn."

Eric looked over at me and raised an eyebrow, "Really? I hadn't noticed," he said, a small smile betraying his sarcasm and making me giggle. "It's not surprising given his mother and myself," he said turning back. The silence sat for a few moments before he looked at me again. "gata pentru mai multă practică?" (Ready for more practice?)

"Da," I said, standing once more.

Solomon POV

Mom and Eric continued to talk while we were around, but I knew that their Romanian lessons had stopped almost a week ago. And though what I knew was limited, I had been able to glean something: Eric was pushing mom into something she didn't want – again. It was all very hard to place.

Family dinner was quiet, especially as only Ellie and I were eating. However, when mom came around to gather the dishes, putting her hand on Ellie's shoulder to lean over and grab her plate, Ellie let out a yelp of pain, startling us all out of the awkward silence.

"What's wrong, honey?" Mom immediately asked as she stood. Ellie quickly moved out of reach, clearly upset.

"It really hurts!" Ellie responded.

"What hurts?"

"My shoulder, you leaned on it weird and it really hurt," Ellie said.

Mom frowned in confusion and I did too. I'd seen the whole thing and knew mom hadn't put any weight on Ellie's shoulder, but as I looked over at Eric I saw grim recognition in his face.

"Eleanor, can I take a look at your shoulder?" he asked calmly. Ellie silently walked over to him and let him push her tee shirt sleeve off of her shoulder wincing slightly at the motion.

Clear as day on her shoulder was a large patch of angry red skin. Eric looked unsurprised, but Mom was horrified. "What happened, Ellie?" She rounded on Eric, "Did this happen your training session? Why wouldn't you tell me this!" she fumed.

Eric shook his head calmly, letting Ellie's shirt fall back into place. "No, it happened a few minutes ago when you leaned on her shoulder."

Mom looked even more horrified if possible, "What do you mean?" she demanded.

"It's a burn, Faith. I think that's all the explanation you need," he said quietly.

"A burn?" Mom repeated in disbelief. Eric nodded slowly. "That's impossible, the two of them don't burn." She continued.

"They do, the more they embrace their vampiric nature," he responded, sounding like he wanted to be anywhere else. He turned back to Ellie, "It'll heal quickly but it might be sore to sleep on tonight," he said gently.

Ellie's face was pale as she nodded. I knew she hadn't missed what this meant, even if she was making amends with Eric. Mom's necklace had been the source of our discomfort and was now dangerous.

Faith POV

Resignation came surprisingly easily. After dinner, I retreated back to my room to think. I realized how empty my threats and promises had been about how I would never cave to Eric's whims, how I would never allow him near me again. It no longer mattered what I wanted or thought. He had a final card that trumped anything I still held. The twins were my only priority and if I was putting them in danger I needed to do everything in my power to end it – even if it put me in danger. And as I started evaluating further I came to further realizations about my situation. I had extremely limited options, and there was only one that would leave me any room to save face, the question was, would I be strong enough to follow through with it?

That night I steeled my nerves, walking myself through all of the steps, practicing what I had to say and how to say it, knowing it was my only option but also determined to claim as much agency as I could. I would do it tomorrow night, there would be no backing out.

True to my plan, I avoided Eric completely and spent the next day trying to mentally prepare, knowing deep down nothing would truly help. In the end, I would just have to grit my teeth and push through – painful as it may be. As the night approached, I carefully changed and slipped into the short dressing robe hanging in the closet. I even went so far as to touch up my face with some makeup, grasping for any bit of confidence I could. But the eyeliner and mascara only seemed to emphasize the pure fear in my eyes. I took a deep breath and looked myself in the eye sternly, "You're going to be okay. You're going to survive this." I said to myself, with false boldness, "You have before, you will again." It didn't help much.

I grabbed the small bottle of precious few pills I had left. I had found them tucked away in my things from years ago when I'd been much more prone to panic attacks and had known if there was any time to take them, it was now. I tossed some back with a bit of water and felt my muscles loosen ever so slightly. I messily pinned up my hair, knowing it likely wouldn't stay that way long, took one last cleansing breath, biting back the tears that already threatened to fall, and silently unclasped my necklace, leaving it on the vanity. I started down the hall to Eric's room.

Standing in front of the door I knew I had reached the point of no return. The moment I entered, my fate would be sealed. I wavered; eventually after a few more deep breaths, my hand found its way to the wood and I knocked firmly. Eric answered the door promptly, not bothering to hide his surprise.

"Good evening, Faith, how can I help you?"

"May I come in?" I said quietly, biting the inside of my lip and praying my voice wouldn't waver. He nodded and pulled the door open to let me pass and closed it gently behind me.

"Have you decided to resume your Romanian lessons?" he asked slowly, obviously suspicious.

I shook my head and looked down taking a slow, collected breath, hoping he didn't hear it shake slightly. "No, I'm here to negotiate terms."

"Terms? What terms are we negotiating?" he asked, I could hear the bafflement in his voice as he took a few steps toward me. I didn't miss his glance at my attire.

I breathed in deeply and locked eyes with him. "Terms of surrender."

... ... ... ... ... ...

A/N: just another small disclaimer that I speak ~*Google Translate*~ and neither French, nor Romanian...but I incorporated both languages into the story regardless. oops.


End file.
